Nagpur: A 58-year-old woman from Nagpur was allegedly cheated of ₹52.5 lakh by cyber fraudsters who posed as police officials from Bengaluru and falsely claimed that her Aadhaar card had been misused in a money laundering case.
The incident reportedly took place between August 9 and August 14, 2026, and the victim subsequently approached the Cyber Police. Based on her complaint, a case was registered on August 18.
According to the complaint filed by Pushpa Borikar, a homemaker, the accused contacted her over the phone and introduced themselves as police officials from Bengaluru. They allegedly told her that her Aadhaar card had been misused in connection with a money laundering case.
The accused allegedly frightened the woman by threatening her with legal action and subsequently gained her confidence. They then allegedly conspired to defraud her and instructed her to transfer money into different bank accounts.
Believing the callers to be genuine police officials, the woman allegedly transferred a total of ₹52.50 lakh through multiple transactions.
The fraud came to light after the victim realised that she had been deceived and approached the police.
Cyber Police have registered a case under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, relating to cheating by personation using computer or communication devices.
The accused have been identified in the complaint as Ravikumar Abhinav Joshi and others. Police are investigating the bank accounts used to receive the money, tracing the phone numbers involved and attempting to identify other persons linked to the cyber fraud.
The incident is another example of the ‘digital arrest’/fake police investigation scam, in which fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials and threaten victims with fabricated criminal cases to extort money.
