While many young and middle-aged individuals have recently fallen prey to “digital arrest” scams, a 73-year-old man from Coimbatore successfully thwarted an attempt to defraud him.
The elderly man (a retired private sector employee) received a phone call from an individual claiming to be an official from the CBI’s Mumbai Division. The caller accused him of conducting bank transactions with drug traffickers and informed him that he had been placed under “digital arrest.”
The impersonator demanded a fine of Rs.42 lakh from the man’s bank account, claiming the funds must be transferred immediately to avoid legal consequences. Despite the pressure, the man was certain no such transactions had occurred and refused to pay.
To escalate the intimidation, the scammer initiated a video call while wearing a police uniform in a setting staged to look like a police station. He even claimed that armed officers were stationed outside the man’s house, ready to arrest him at gunpoint if he attempted to leave or refused to pay the fine.
Remaining remarkably calm in spite of these efforts, the man disconnected the call and immediately contacted the Coimbatore City Police Cybercrime Department. Officials there confirmed that it is a scam, and “digital arrest” does not exist as a legal process. The police praised his composure, advising him to ignore such fraudulent threats and never to transfer money to unverified callers.
