A man from Jharkhand’s Sahibganj district has fallen victim to a sophisticated digital arrest scam, losing ₹1.2 crore intended for his daughter’s wedding after being tricked by fraudsters impersonating law enforcement officers through video calls.
A man in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj district has lost ₹1.2 crore he had set aside for his daughter’s wedding after being trapped in a so-called “digital arrest” scam, according to Business Today. Police said the victim was drawn into the fraud in June when a caller claimed to be a senior officer with the Central Bureau of Investigation and warned him that a serious case had been filed against him.
The scammers then kept him under pressure through repeated video calls, presenting what police described as a fake courtroom and pretending to place him before a CBI judge on three occasions. During those calls, he was allegedly threatened with arrest, fines and legal action unless he transferred money to accounts provided by the fraudsters.
Police said the victim finally told a relative before approaching authorities. An investigation team is now examining bank accounts, mobile numbers and transaction trails in an effort to follow the money and identify the people behind the operation. The case fits a pattern seen in several recent frauds across India in which criminals impersonate law-enforcement officers, use video calls to create urgency and extract large sums from frightened victims.
Authorities and consumer-safety guides have repeatedly warned that there is no legal basis for a “digital arrest” and that genuine investigators do not conduct custody proceedings over video call or demand payments to close a case. In another recent example cited by local and national media, the CBI arrested three people in connection with a separate ₹2.07 crore digital arrest scam after raids in Odisha and Rajasthan, underlining how organised and mobile these networks have become.
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