What began as a phone call about a money-laundering case soon turned into a two-day ordeal for a 73-year-old Bengaluru man, involving fake court orders, continuous WhatsApp surveillance and even a stranger appearing at his doorstep. By the end of it, he had lost Rs 50 lakh.
According to the FIR registered on March 8, the Domlur resident first received a call on the afternoon of March 5 from an unknown number. The caller claimed that his phone number had been misused in a money-laundering case and that he was required to undergo an inquiry. Soon after, the same person contacted him on WhatsApp and told him that he had been “digitally arrested.”
The scammers then sent him a document titled Financial Transaction Committee Order, bearing the header of the Supreme Court of India. They claimed that the inquiry was being conducted by an agency called the “Protection of Anti Money Laundering Office of India,” and told him he was a suspect who had to follow their directions to be “acquitted.”
The FIR states that the victim was instructed not to contact anyone for 72 hours and was made to remain continuously on WhatsApp calls. The callers also claimed that officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation in Navi Mumbai were monitoring him and that field personnel had been stationed near his residence.
On the morning of March 7 at around 8.30 am, the man told the callers that he had high blood pressure and could not remain on the call. The scammers responded by saying they would send medicine to his home. Within ten minutes, an unknown person arrived at his residence claiming to deliver the medication.
Later that morning, at around 10.30 am, the scammers directed him to join a WhatsApp video call that they described as a “court proceeding.” During the staged call, they showed him what they claimed was an order of acquittal and instructed him to transfer Rs 50 lakh to a specified bank account.
Fearing consequences, the man transferred the money on March 7 to a bank account under the name “PAYNCARE TECHNOLOGIE.”
Realising he had been cheated, the man later approached the police and filed a complaint seeking recovery of the money.
The case has been registered at Bengaluru East CEN police station under Sections 66(C) (Punishment for identity theft), 66(D)(Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Sections 308 (extortion) and 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).