Chandigarh: Retired Colonel, wife lose ₹3.4 cr to digital arrest scam

An 82-year-old retired army officer, Colonel Dalip Singh and his wife, Ravinder Kaur Bajwa, 74, residents of Sector 2-A, have lost ₹3.41 crore to fraudsters who posed as personnel of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The fraud took place on March 18, when Bajwa received a call from an unknown number and the caller falsely accused him of being involved in a money laundering case. The scammer claimed that Bajwa had allegedly sold his bank account details to Naresh Goyal, the jailed owner of Jet Airways, for ₹5 lakh and had received an additional ₹20 lakh as commission for laundering ₹2 crore.

To make their scheme appear legitimate, the fraudsters showed Bajwa his ATM card over a video call and claimed they were investigating a ₹5,038-crore scam. They also sent photos of 24 alleged victims, stating that one had committed suicide, and falsely claimed that a whistleblower and their entire family had been murdered by Goyal.

The fraudsters further intimidated him by stating that the Supreme Court had issued an arrest warrant against him.

Told to attend ‘questioning’ online

When Bajwa expressed his inability to travel to Mumbai for questioning owing to his age, the scammers assured him that an online inquiry could be arranged, during which they asked him 15 questions related to Naresh Goyal’s case.

To manipulate him further, they threatened to expose his alleged involvement in newspapers, tarnishing his reputation if he failed to cooperate.

The fraudsters placed Bajwa and his wife under “digital arrest”, instructing them to keep their phones on at all times and forbidding them from contacting anyone. This digital arrest lasted 10 days, from March 18 to March 27.

On March 20, the fraudsters coerced Bajwa into revealing his bank account balance of ₹8.80 lakh. Using fabricated arrest warrants and account-freezing notices shared over WhatsApp, they pressured him into transferring funds through real-time gross settlement (RTGS).

Bajwa, believing the threats, made multiple transfers to various accounts, sending ₹8 lakh on March 20, ₹60 lakh on March 21, ₹80 lakh on March 24, ₹88 lakh on March 25, and ₹1.05 crore on March 27, leaving his bank account completely empty.

The scammers then targeted his wife, convincing him to break her fixed deposits (FDs) to “close the case”.

To maintain control over him, the fraudsters forced Bajwa to keep his video call on for 24 hours. If the call was interrupted, they would immediately contact him and demand him to turn it on. They impersonated Mumbai Cyber Crime officials, using multiple phone numbers. They repeatedly contacted Bajwa and his family on their personal numbers.

Realising he had been scammed, Bajwa approached the cybercrime police station in Chandigarh and filed a complaint, leading to the registration of a case on April 1. An FIR under Sections 308, 319(2), 318(4), 336(3), 338, 340(2) and 61(2) of the BNS was registered at the cyber police station. The Chandigarh Police have been able to hold and recover ₹6 lakh from the lost funds.

Police have urged residents to remain cautious and not share personal or financial details with strangers over the phone. They have advised verifying any legal notices with the authorities and reporting suspicious calls to the cyber crime helpline (1930).