Overview
- Lucknow police said a 73-year-old retired finance officer was held in a so-called digital arrest for 25 days and lost nearly Rs 90 lakh to callers posing as Mumbai Cyber Crime officials, with about Rs 15 lakh frozen so far.
- Pune cyber crime officials registered an FIR after a 69-year-old retiree transferred over Rs 1 crore under threats of PFI-linked terror and money-laundering charges, with payments routed to accounts in Bhiwandi, Coimbatore, Mahasamund and Chandigarh.
- Karwar police in Karnataka reported that a 72-year-old retired teacher lost Rs 1.61 crore after a caller impersonating Colaba police ordered deposits into a supposed National Fund and demanded location check-ins every two hours.
- Hyderabad’s cybercrime unit received a complaint from a 59-year-old Secunderabad resident who lost about Rs 72 lakh to a Facebook-to-WhatsApp investment ring that faked profits, then demanded commissions and VIP fees.
- Separate reports include a Chandigarh complaint over a WhatsApp–Telegram trading group that extracted Rs 3.82 lakh and a Hyderabad firm’s Rs 57 lakh portal breach, while police across jurisdictions work to trace identities, UPI flows and Telegram accounts.