Digital arrest scam comes home: Delhi woman, 75, says she was made to hand over her house deeds

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Fake CBI and ED officers kept a cancer patient on video for 22 days, got ₹3 lakh and a ₹4.95 lakh gold loan out of her, then had her house papers collected and a sale agreement signed at home, her complaint says. She and her daughter want a CBI probe.

01 / What happened

A 75-year-old Delhi woman who was being treated for cancer at the time was held in a digital arrest for 22 days in April by callers posing as CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers, NDTV reported on 30 September. A call to her landline on 6 April claimed her number was linked to a money-laundering case. On a WhatsApp video call, men in police uniforms said she and her children would be arrested within 30 minutes, and told her to tell no one because it was "national security".

On their instructions she transferred ₹3 lakh at her bank. On 7 April she pledged 83.5 grams of gold for a loan of about ₹4.95 lakh, which the complaint alleges also went to the callers.

02 / How it left the screen

When she begged them to stop, the callers said the rest would be done at her home: an "authorised property dealer" would contact her about the house, worth over ₹2 crore according to NDTV. As the complaint is reported:

• 13 April: a man presenting himself as a property dealer took the original deeds and all copies, giving no receipt.
• 15 April: he returned with two men posing as a buyer and a witness, and she was made to sign an advance receipt-cum-agreement to sell the house without being told fully what it meant.
• 17 April: cheques for ₹23 lakh and ₹10 lakh reached her account; ₹21 lakh and ₹3 lakh were withdrawn over two days and, the complaint alleges, moved to another account.

The last call of the ordeal came on 23 April, NDTV reported, and an e-FIR was registered on 27 April (The Hindu dates the digital arrest 6 to 27 April). Her daughter alleges the dealer later demanded ₹24 lakh to return the deeds. He denied the allegations to NDTV, saying a man claiming to be her son had approached him; the Delhi Police's status report to the High Court says his role in the fraud was not established.

03 / The court case

She and her daughter have asked the Delhi High Court for a CBI investigation, saying the police made "little meaningful progress", The Hindu reported. On 30 July Justice Girish Kathpalia issued notice to the Delhi Police and the CBI and asked for a status report, according to The420.

In August the investigating officer told The Hindu that at least 10 to 12 bank accounts receiving the money had been identified and their holders were being questioned; the daughter said the callers were still contacting her mother. NDTV reports that the investigation points to an alleged gang in Cambodia. No arrest has been reported.

04 / Confirmed vs. reported

Confirmed (reported independently by The Hindu and The420): the High Court issued notice to the Delhi Police and the CBI, sought a status report and posted the case for 13 August. Reported: the calls, payments, visits and signatures, from the complaint and petition as NDTV, The Hindu and The420 describe them, and the status report's findings, which we have not seen. Alleged: everything said about the gang. Where reports differ: NDTV says the daughter went to court; The Hindu says mother and daughter did.

05 / What to do now

• The government says no agency investigates over phone or video calls. So no real officer will hold you on video, ask for your gold or send a dealer, buyer or "witness" to your home. Hang up. Digital arrest scam: what to do.
• Tell your family, whatever the caller says. Secrecy is how the scam keeps you alone.
• If money has gone, call 1930 at once, then your bank on its official number, and report at cybercrime.gov.in. Money lost? What to do now.
• Property papers (general precautions, not legal advice): don't hand deeds, gold or cheques to anyone a caller sends, or sign anything under pressure. If you have, list every paper in your police complaint and talk to a lawyer.
• Expect more calls. Report the numbers on Chakshu at sancharsaathi.gov.in.

More: digital arrest figures and the Supreme Court case; the S.P. Oswal money trail.