Archive · 16 Aug 2026
85-Year-Old Ex-Army Officer Loses ₹62.55 Lakh in Digital Arrest Fraud
A very old man in India received a phone call from someone pretending to work at a bank.
The caller said a credit card in his name was used to do something illegal.
The man said he did not have such a credit card.
Then the caller connected him to people pretending to be police officers on a video call.
The fake police said a bad person used his credit card for a money crime.
They even sent a fake letter that looked like it came from the country's central bank.
They told the man to send his money to a bank account to help with their investigation.
Between July 20 and 23, he sent about 62 lakh rupees to them.
The fake police promised to return the money if he was found innocent.
When the money never came back, the man realized he had been tricked and reported it to the real police.
An 85-year-old retired army officer residing in Pune lost over ₹62 lakh to a digital arrest fraud.
On July 19, a caller posing as a bank employee from Bandra claimed a credit card in the victim's name was used for illegal activity.
Scammers posing as Mumbai police officers on a video call said a terrorist arrested in a money laundering case had used the victim's credit card.
A bogus RBI letter was sent on WhatsApp claiming police were authorised to check the victim's bank account details.
From July 20 to 23, the victim was induced to transfer ₹62.55 lakh to different beneficiary bank accounts and reported the fraud after the money was not returned.
- Who
- An 85-year-old retired army officer residing in Pune.
- What
- The victim lost ₹62.55 lakh in a digital arrest fraud involving callers posing as bank staff, police officers, and the RBI.
- When
- The initial phone call was on July 19; money transfers happened from July 20 to 23.
- Where
- Pune, with the scam caller claiming to be from a bank in Bandra, Mumbai.
- Why
- The scammers told the victim his credit card was linked to a money laundering case and induced him to transfer money for investigation purposes.
- Victim
- 85-year-old retired army officer
- Location
- Pune
- Amount lost
- ₹62.55 lakh
- Fraud type
- Digital arrest fraud
- Initial contact
- July 19
- Transfer period
- July 20-23
- Impersonated authorities
- Bandra bank, Mumbai police, RBI