Cyber thieves have taken the country by storm through the Digital Arrest scam, defrauding thousands of people of crores. Women, the elderly and retired employees are the prime targets of the thieves. A shocking case of digital arrest has come to light in Mumbai. In this case, a fraud of not a little but a whopping INR 20 crores has been committed.
An 86-year-old woman from South Mumbai has fallen victim to this scam, as per the report by the Indian Express. Cyber thieves had called the elderly woman claiming to be a police officer. They diverted money from the victim's account to various bank accounts, claiming that her Aadhaar card had been used for illegal purposes.
The scam took place between December 26, 2024 and March 3, 2025, and it has come to light that the accused defrauded a total of INR 20.25 crore during this period. The Cyber Police Wing of the Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested two people in this case.
According to the police, two accused, Shayan Jamil Sheikh (20) and Rajeek Azam Butt (20), who reside in Malad (West) and Mira Road (East), have been arrested. Among them, Butt is suspected to be a member of a large international gang. He has created a group of 13 foreign nationals on Telegram. Information about Indian bank accounts was provided on this group. It has been noticed that these accounts are related to the scam.
According to the police, the accused first called the victim in December 2024. In it, he pretended to be a police officer and said that the victim's Aadhaar ID card was used for money laundering. The police officer said that the accused said that an account was opened in Indian Bank using the victim's Aadhaar card and personal details. The accused also said that a large amount of money was laundered through this account.
The accused terrorised the victim by saying that a money laundering crime had been committed. They also threatened to file a case against the victim and her family. The accused used techniques like digital arrest to get the victim to transfer money from her account. Between December 2024 and March 2025, the victim transferred INR 20.25 crore into the bank account given by the accused.
After realising that she had been cheated, the woman filed a complaint with the National Cyber Crime Registration Forum. When the cyber police investigated the matter, it was found that the money had been transferred to various bank accounts. At this time, it was noticed that some money was also transferred to Shayan Jamil Sheikh's account. INR 4.99 lakh was sent to his account. After Shayan was traced and arrested, he admitted that he received the money through fraud.
According to information received from Shayan Sheikh, the police have arrested Rajeek Azam Butt. At this time, another accused, Ryan Arshad Sheikh, has absconded. The police are searching for him.
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