MUMBAI: A 71-year-old retired executive from Mahim was allegedly kept under “digital arrest” for more than two months and cheated out of her lifetime savings of Rs 6.3 crore by fraudsters who threatened to arrest her in a money-laundering case.The Central Cyber police registered a case on November 9. The woman, who retired from an electrical equipment and consumer goods company in 2012, contacted the cyber helpline 1930 on November 7. Police managed to save Rs 2.75 crore after freezing several mule accounts.The woman received a WhatsApp video call on September 3 from a man claiming to be Nashik police sub-inspector Sandeep Rao. He questioned her about a Canara Bank account in Nashik, which she denied holding, and connected her to people identifying themselves as Anil Kumar and IPS officer Vishwas Nangare Patil.They told her that somebody had opened the account using her Aadhaar card and laundered crores of rupees through it.They allegedly made her sign a non-disclosure agreement, instructed her not to speak to anyone and required her to call or message them every two hours. On September 4, the callers allegedly sent her a purported ED arrest and account-freezing order bearing her name.Between September 5 and November 6, she transferred Rs 6.3 crore through RTGS in eight transactions to eight bank accounts, including one in Rajasthan, on the pretext of verification. The transfers ranged from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore.The callers promised to return the money on November 6 after completing the inquiry. When the money was not returned, she called them but found that her number had been blocked.
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