A retired schoolteacher from Chandigarh’s Sector 20 allegedly lost ₹48 lakh after cyber fraudsters posing as police and central investigating agency officials trapped her in a prolonged “digital arrest” scam.
According to police, the fraud began on September 16-17 when the woman received WhatsApp calls from a man claiming to be an Assistant Sub-Inspector with the Chandigarh Police. He allegedly told her that a SIM card registered in her name in Jammu and Kashmir had been used in a case involving terrorists and hawala transactions.
The callers later claimed that ₹70 lakh linked to hawala dealings had been transferred into her bank account. They subsequently impersonated officials from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), allegedly showing her a fake Supreme Court order to make the threat appear genuine.
The fraudsters reportedly kept the woman under continuous video-call surveillance and warned her against contacting her children or anyone else. Convinced that she was facing legal action, she transferred a total of ₹48 lakh in three separate transactions to bank accounts provided by the accused.
She realised later that she had been deceived and approached the police. A case has since been registered at the Cyber Police Station in Sector 17, and further investigation is underway.
