A 72-year-old woman from Mulund has been cheated of nearly ₹32.8 lakh by a gang of three fraudsters who threatened her with arrest in an alleged money-laundering case. The Mulund incident has been registered by the Cyber Police of the East Region, and a case has been filed against the accused under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act. Police said the investigation is currently underway.
The complainant lives in Mulund with her husband, who runs a private business. The fraud began on 11 November when her husband received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as Sandeep Roy from the Colaba Crime Branch. He falsely claimed that transactions worth ₹2.5 crore connected to money laundering had flowed through their bank account and that ₹25 lakh had been deposited into their account as commission. Despite the couple denying any such account or transaction, the caller continued interrogating them.
During the call, the fraudster extracted details about their family, including that the couple lives in Mulund while one daughter lives in the Netherlands and the other in Canada. He warned them not to reveal the matter to anyone, threatening that they could be arrested from their home.
The next day, another fraudster—dressed as a police officer—contacted them through a video call. Identifying himself as Dilip Jaiswal, he falsely claimed that because they were senior citizens, they would not be taken into custody, but they were under a “digital arrest” and must cooperate with the investigation. He then began collecting details about their finances.
The woman informed him that they had ₹37 lakh in cash in their bank account and some gold ornaments in their locker. The fraudster instructed her to transfer ₹32.8 lakh to a bank account he provided, claiming it was required for the investigation. Fearing arrest, she went to the bank and transferred the amount via RTGS. She also sent the payment slip to him on WhatsApp.
On 14 November, her son-in-law called and she narrated the entire incident. He immediately informed her that no such thing as a “digital arrest” exists and that the police never conduct online interrogations. Realising it was a cyber fraud, he advised her to file a complaint.
The woman then approached the East Region Cyber Cell and lodged a complaint against the three unknown fraudsters. After verifying the details, the police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act. Police are now tracing the bank account to which the money was transferred and gathering details of the account holders.