Mumbai: Cybercriminals swindled ₹20 crore from an 86-year-old Mumbai woman by falsely accusing her of money laundering and threatening her with arrest. To make their scheme convincing, they conducted fake online court hearings and monitored her movements through frequent calls. For two months, the scammers contacted her every three hours, instructing her to remain at home. Two suspects have been arrested.
The ordeal began when she received a call from a man posing as Sandip Rao from the CBI, who claimed a fraudulent bank account had been opened in her name and used for illegal transactions, including transfers to Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal’s account. Concerned by her unusual behavior, a house help alerted her daughter. “She stayed locked in her room, shouted at someone over the phone, and only stepped out for meals,” a police officer said.
Rao convinced her that a CBI special investigation team was handling her case and that an official complaint had been lodged. During a WhatsApp call, he threatened that her children would be arrested and their bank accounts frozen. He falsely claimed there was an arrest warrant, a freeze order, and a confidential agreement against her. If she failed to cooperate, he warned, police would be dispatched to her home.
Playing on her fears, the scammers told her that under the “Digital India Movement,” she would not have to visit a police station, as her “e-investigation” was being monitored remotely. Using this pretense, they coerced her into sharing her bank details, alleging they needed to verify funds linked to “criminal activities.”
Placed under “digital police custody,” she was isolated from family and forbidden from communicating with relatives. The fraudsters extracted sensitive information about her family, business, and financial assets over WhatsApp. Rao and an accomplice, Rajiv Ranjan, contacted her daily for hours, even sending forged Supreme Court notices. To “clear her name,” they instructed her to transfer all her money to a court account, falsely promising a refund after the probe.
After an FIR was filed on March 4, police arrested Shayan Shaikh (20) from Malad and Raziq Butt (20) from Mira Road. Investigations revealed that ₹5 lakh was transferred to Shaikh’s account and ₹9 lakh to another. Butt allegedly handed the money to another suspect, who converted it into cryptocurrency.
