NEW DELHI An 88 year old woman from Sarita Vihar in southeast Delhi allegedly lost ₹78 lakh after cyber criminals kept her under a digital arrest for around 10 days. The scammers reportedly told her that she was connected to a money laundering case and used fear to control her. The incident started on August 24, when the woman received a call from an unknown number. The callers allegedly claimed that a money laundering case had been registered against her bank accounts. They also showed her fake conversations and claimed that senior officials were involved in the case.
The scammers then allegedly kept the elderly woman under constant surveillance. She was reportedly asked to contact them every hour and keep her phone camera switched on, even at night. They also used different mobile numbers and WhatsApp calls to communicate with her. Under their instructions, the woman transferred ₹51 lakh on September 1 from one bank account. The next day, she transferred another ₹27 lakh through RTGS, taking the total loss to ₹78 lakh.
The fraud came to light when her daughter received a bank email about the ₹27 lakh transaction. Her son-in law then visited her home and the family discovered what had happened.The woman reported the matter to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. Delhi Police IFSO unit investigated the case and an FIR was registered under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to cheating, impersonation, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
