78-year-old retired IAF officer loses ₹42.5 lakh to digital arrest scam routed through HDFC Bank mule account

Summary

A 78-year-old retired IAF officer, Biren Yadav, was ensnared in a digital arrest scam on August 8, 2024, and forced to transfer Rs 42.5 lakh via RTGS to a bank account linked to the "Jeevika Foundation." On that day alone, the Jeevika account had 1,960 transactions, with Rs 3.72 crore credited and Rs 3.33 crore debited, despite an opening balance of just Rs 556. The account was opened at HDFC Bank’s Karol Bagh branch in Delhi in October 2023, and officials claimed they followed due process, including KYC norms, but could not explain how large sums moved without red flags. The Jeevika account is now central to at least six police investigations across multiple states, with victims reporting losses totaling over Rs 1.59 crore. In another related case, a top advertising executive in Gurugram was coerced into transferring Rs 5.85 crore in two days to an ICICI Bank account linked to an unemployed 26-year-old in Jhajjar, highlighting the use of multiple banks in the scam chain. Banks involved, including HDFC and ICICI, stated they had no alerts or mechanisms to flag the suspicious transactions at the time.