A Bengaluru woman fell victim to a prolonged “digital arrest” scam, allegedly selling two plots of land, an apartment and even taking a bank loan to pay more than Rs 2 crore to cybercriminals over several
months, police said on Tuesday.
According to the police, the victim is a resident of New Thippasandra and lives with her 10-year-old son. An FIR was registered on November 27 at the Whitefield CEN police station after she realised she had been duped.
In her complaint, the woman stated that the ordeal began on June 19, when she received a phone call from a person claiming to be from Blue Dart courier services. The caller allegedly told her that drugs and suspicious baggage linked to her Aadhaar number had been seized and that the Mumbai police would arrest her.
Cybercriminals then allegedly posed as Mumbai police officers and threatened her with serious legal consequences. They instructed her to install certain mobile applications, ordered her to remain indoors and warned her not to share any information with anyone until the so-called investigation was completed, police said.
“While collecting primary details, the accused found out that she had a 10-year-old son and used that as a tool to instil fear, telling her that even her child could be arrested and jailed,” a police officer said.
Under sustained pressure, the woman complied with their instructions between June 19 and November 27, transferring money multiple times. As per the FIR, she sold an apartment in Vignan Nagar at a distress price, sold two plots in Malur at low rates and also took a bank loan to meet the demands.
After extracting the money, the cybercriminals allegedly asked her to visit a police station to obtain a ‘no-objection certificate’. It was only when she walked into the Whitefield police station that she realised she had been conned.
In total, the woman transferred Rs 2,05,16,652 to the fraudsters through 22 transactions, with the highest single transfer amounting to Rs 70 lakh.
The Whitefield CEN police have registered a case under Sections 66(c) and 66(d) of the Information Technology Act and Sections 319(2) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and further investigation is underway.
Rising cybercrime losses
The case comes amid a sharp rise in cybercrime across Karnataka. Over the past three years, the state has recorded losses of Rs 5,473.97 crore in 57,733 cybercrime cases, while recovering only about 11.5 per cent of the amount.
On average, Karnataka lost Rs 6.05 crore a day to cybercrime during this period, but recovered only around Rs 60 lakh daily. Data shows that in 2023, victims had a one-in-five chance of recovering some of their money, a figure that dropped to just one in 16 by 2025.
“The nature of cybercrimes has evolved,” a police officer said. “While cryptocurrency-related fraud has declined, job scams and matrimonial fraud continue. Financial losses are now much higher, and the duration of these crimes has increased, with criminals taking hours or even days to manipulate victims through digital scams and stock trading frauds.”
