Pune: Cybercrooks posed as officers from Mumbai crime branch and other central agencies to threaten a 77-year-old woman from Kothrud of arrest in a bogus money laundering case and duped her of Rs1.63 crore between March 10 and 30.The victim lodged a complaint with the Pune cybercrime police on Monday.Senior inspector Swapnali Shinde said, “The crooks contacted the victim via a video call. They were seen wearing police uniforms. They claimed to be from the Mumbai crime branch and told her that her bank account and Aadhaar card details had been used in a Rs 200 crore money laundering case, which they were investigating. They also warned her that she is facing arrest in the case.”“They told her that the bank account had been used for money laundering transactions and was under investigation for cyber fraud,” she said, adding that the fraudsters repeatedly threatened to arrest her and sent her an image of a fake arrest warrant.While talking about the background of the elderly woman, Shinde said, “The victim has two sons, who are settled in the US. She has been staying there for nine months and visited Pune for three months to look after her properties. Her sons have been sending her money. She, however, spent very little.”“She had come to Pune at the end of Jan and was alone in her flat when the fraudsters started calling her. She believed them and suspected that someone involved in the money laundering case might have misused her bank account and Aadhaar details,” she said.Shinde added that on the pretext of settling the matter and avoiding her arrest, the fraudsters demanded money. They shared five bank accounts with her. “She started transferring money as per instructions,” Shinde said.“The victim eventually exhausted her savings, but the suspects continued to demand more money. She eventually narrated the incident to one of her sons, who advised her to approach the cybercrime police,” she added.
