A retired Bhabha Atomic Research Centre technician in Mumbai has fallen victim to a sophisticated impersonation scam, losing nearly ₹25 lakh after fraudsters posing as police officials pressured him into a false criminal investigation, highlighting a worrying trend among digital financial crimes targeting seniors.
A retired Bhabha Atomic Research Centre technician in Mumbai has been cheated out of ₹24.80 lakh in what police say was a meticulously staged impersonation scam, underscoring how fraudsters are increasingly using the names of law-enforcement agencies to pressure victims into making hurried transfers.
According to the first information report, Vinayak Baburao Gaikwad, 61, who retired from BARC on August 31 and lives in Anushaktinagar BARC Colony, received a WhatsApp voice call on September 10 from a man claiming to be from the Crime Investigation Department. The caller said a mobile SIM had been issued in Gaikwad’s name and that a bank account in Nashik had been used for transactions worth ₹2 crore. When Gaikwad denied any link to Nashik, the caller allegedly said his name had surfaced in a police probe.
The deception escalated when another man joined a WhatsApp video call and appeared against a Mumbai Police logo, according to police. Over the next several days, the fraudsters allegedly kept Gaikwad under close virtual watch, telling him not to contact anyone, stay at home and report his movements. They also allegedly sent him a fake notice said to be from the Enforcement Directorate, apparently to make the threat seem more credible.
The group then demanded ₹24.80 lakh as the cost of settling the supposed case. On September 16, Gaikwad was told to keep his phone charged for a long interrogation, after which he was allegedly connected to a person posing as senior police officer Vishwas Nangare Patil. The impersonator then sent a photograph of a police identity card and instructed him to move money into accounts provided during the call, including accounts in the names of Lifeline Alkaline and Gram Construction OPC Private Limited, before later claiming he had been cleared. When no official order arrived, Gaikwad realised he had been duped and contacted the 1930 cybercrime helpline. Eastern Region Cyber police have registered a case against unknown persons.
The case fits a wider pattern of so-called digital arrest frauds in Mumbai, where scammers have recently posed as officials from the CBI, police, the telecom department and other agencies to frighten mainly older, retired residents into parting with savings. In separate recent cases reported by the Free Press Journal, a retired banker in Mulund was allegedly cheated out of ₹1.83 crore, an 84-year-old Girgaon resident lost ₹20 lakh and an 82-year-old man from Vile Parle was allegedly defrauded of ₹1.08 crore using similar tactics.
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