73-year-old woman from Hyderabad loses ₹1.45 crore to cybercriminals impersonating police via WhatsApp and fake documents

Summary

A 73-year-old woman from Hyderabad lost over ₹1.45 crore to cyber criminals who impersonated Bengaluru police officers. On October 22, the victim received a call from a man claiming to be Inspector Akash Choudhary, who threatened her with arrest on fabricated charges of child trafficking and money laundering. The fraudster used a WhatsApp video call in a police uniform and presented doctored photos, a forged CBI letter, and a fake FIR to intimidate her. Between October 23 and 24, the victim sent ₹1.23 crore to a Punjab National Bank account and ₹22 lakh to a UCO Bank account. The scam was discovered when the victim’s daughter received a debit alert, prompting a family friend to intervene and report the case to the cybercrime police. A case was registered on Friday under the Information Technology Act and the BNS, with officials investigating multiple bank accounts involved in the transaction.