The South Cyber Police arrested Wasim Ansari, a resident of Antop Hill, Wadala, for his involvement in a digital arrest scam that defrauded a 70-year-old woman from Colaba of Rs19 lakh.
The victim was falsely told that her Aadhaar and bank details were linked to a Rs200 crore money laundering case and threatened with ties to gangster Dawood Ibrahim. In December last year, she received a phone call from someone posing as Prashant Kumar from a telecom company, followed by a video call from a fraudster claiming to be Anil Sharma of the Delhi Crime Branch, who alleged she had been digitally arrested.
Under duress, the senior citizen transferred her life savings as a ‘security deposit’ to the fraudsters. When communication stopped, she realized she had been cheated and lodged a complaint in January.
Police investigations traced Rs3 lakh deposited into Ansari’s bank account. Authorities suspect he withdrew further funds and laundered money via hawala or layered transactions to other syndicate members.
The investigation continues as police work to dismantle the entire scam network.
