Cybercriminals used forged documents and impersonation to extort Rs 99 lakh from a Pune retiree. The scam highlights rising threats exploiting public trust in government agencies.
Cybercriminals forged the signature of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on a fabricated arrest warrant to deceive a 62-year-old retired LIC officer from Pune and extort nearly Rs 99 lakh from her in a “digital arrest” scam.
According to the Pune City Cyber Police, the fraud began in the last week of October when the woman, a resident of Kothrud, received a call from a man claiming to represent a “Data Protection Agency.” He alleged that her Aadhaar-linked mobile number had been misused for fraudulent transactions.
She was then connected to another person who introduced himself as a senior police officer named George Mathew. During a video call, the impersonator accused her of money laundering and warned that her bank accounts would be frozen. To reinforce the threat, the scammers sent her a forged arrest warrant carrying Sitharaman’s fake signature and what appeared to be an official government seal.
The woman was told that due to her age she would be placed under “digital arrest”, meaning she would be monitored remotely, and was instructed to transfer all her funds to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) accounts for verification. Believing the claim, she transferred 99 lakh to multiple accounts later found to be controlled by a cybercrime network based in Thane.
To sustain the deception, the fraudsters shared additional fabricated documents, including a fake receipt purportedly from the Enforcement Directorate (ED). When the woman later tried to reach the callers, the numbers were switched off. She then realised she had been defrauded and lodged a complaint with the Pune City Cyber Police.
Investigators have begun tracing the bank accounts and phone numbers used in the fraud. Officials said scammers increasingly misuse names of real and fictitious government agencies, such as the Data Protection Board of India (DPBI) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), to create credibility.
