Pune: An 82-year-old former state govt officer from Vishrantwadi collapsed and died of shock days after realising that a Rs1.19 crore digital arrest fraud was committed on him and his wife (80) between Aug 16 and Sept 17 by crooks impersonating Mumbai Cyber police and CBI officials.The couple have three daughters, who are married and settled abroad.The victim’s wife lodged a complaint on Tuesday after verification of her grievance application. She told police that her husband was under immense pressure because of the loss of money and sustained harassment by the crooks after they were kept under digital arrest for three days. The FIR states that he died on Oct 22. The senior citizen collapsed in his house and was taken to a hospital, where he passed away, the police said and added that he was very disturbed by the incident.The FIR states that the elderly man received the first call from the crooks on Aug 16. The caller identified himself as an officer and encounter specialist with the Mumbai police. He told the victim that the Mumbai police as well as the CBI’s Delhi office were probing a money laundering case involving the owner of a private airline company and that the victim’s bank account and Aadhaar card were misused for the purpose.Senior inspector Swapnali Shinde of the Pune Cyber police said: “The victim subsequently received a call from a fraudster, who identified himself as an IPS officer from CBI’s Delhi office. The caller claimed that the CBI probe had concluded that the elderly couple were involved in the money laundering case. He said the couple would be either placed under ‘home arrest’ or ‘jail arrest’.”Shinde said: “The suspects told the retired government officer to switch on his cellphone camera. The crooks kept the elderly couple under digital arrest for three days. During this period, the fraudsters collected details of the man’s bank account and Aadhaar card. All this while, they continued to ask the couple some random questions on the money laundering case to keep up the pressure.”Shinde said, “The crooks then offered a settlement and a promise to remove their names from the case if the couple paid up. They shared details of five bank accounts and told the elderly man to transfer the money. The couple transferred money to the five bank accounts from their individual accounts. In the process, they exhausted all their savings, including the money they had received from their daughters. When the fraudsters stopped calling, the couple shared their ordeal with one of their daughters who told them to contact police.“Digital arrest scams have emerged as one of the biggest cybercrime trends in Maharashtra with hundreds being duped of crores of rupees.Maharashtra Cyber Police data shows that between Jan and Aug 2025, as many as 218 offences related to digital arrest scams were registered across the state. Gullible citizens lost Rs112 crore in these scams, while the police managed to solve only 26 cases. In the detected cases, the police arrested 49 people and recovered Rs1.5 crore, while managing to freeze Rs5.51 crore.During the same period, around 5,301 offences related to cybercrime were registered across the state, of which police could solve 1,200 cases and arrested 1,030 people.Lawyer and cybercrime investigator Rohan Nyayadish told TOI: “People need to be fully aware of the fact that no one can arrest them on phone or no one has the right to demand their credentials on phone even if the caller claims to be a police officer or any other high-ranking officer. People should not fear and always approach the police if they receive such threat calls.”He said: “The fraudsters are operating from tier III or tier IV cities where SIM cards are easily available. In some cases, they are using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) to cheat people. They are targeting senior citizens because they fear a lot and do not discuss such things with their relatives,” he said.
