Cops bring back Rs 40 lakh of Rs 1.82 crore woman scientist lost after digital arrest

Time of India

08-05-2025

Pune:
said this week they've returned Rs 40 lakh to a city-based
who was forced to transfer Rs 1.82 crore to fraudsters last year after they placed her under '
'. It was 2025's first recovery of any money lost in a digital arrest case from the city, officials said.More than 100 bank accounts were frozen by investigators on the case as they tracked a trail of money transfers made by the crooks.
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The woman scientist, a 64-year-old resident of Erandwane in the city, had made three transfers between Dec 19 and 26, to send the Rs 1.82 crore. This sum, officials said, was broken down by fraudsters into smaller amounts and sent to many more bank accounts. Police began their hunt for a money trail soon after the case was filed on Jan 1 this year."As part of the money trail, we discovered over 100 bank accounts with money still in them. After freezing these accounts, we managed to retrieve the cash. And last week, after permission from court, we returned Rs 40 lakh to the scientist," said inspector Yashwant Nikam of the Cyber Police Station.Nikam said the scientist, a retiree, spent four days at home under digital arrest. "She was only allowed to step out to go to the bank, from where she made the money transfer. The suspects claimed they were from Mumbai cyber police and had threatened her, claiming her Aadhaar and SIM cards had been used in 12 cheating cases. They made her sit in front of her laptop and told her to transfer the money, to 'settle' the 12 cases," Nikam said.About the investigation, the inspector said sleuths from Pune cyber police used certain software to uncover layer after layer of bank transfers made by the fraudsters. "We started with the first three bank accounts that were given to us by the scientist. The software gave us details of the accounts and we then wrote to the bank, asking it to freeze all the suspicious accounts that were allegedly used by the fraudsters. This way, we managed to get more than 100 accounts frozen, all part of the suspected money trail," Nikam said, adding that search was underway for more of the scientist's money."We are still tracking these bank accounts. Another Rs 5 lakh will be handed over to the victim in the next few weeks," Nikam said.The cash recovery in the scientist's digital arrest case was reported days before another development on Tuesday evening, when cops investigating online share fraud managed to return Rs 51 lakh to a central govt employee from Lohegaon. Police said the victim had lost Rs 85 lakh in total to fraudsters last April. In this case too, more than 200 bank accounts were frozen after cops discovered a money trail, officials said.