Cyber crooks, posing as police officials from the ‘Mumbai Crime Branch’, duped an 83-year-old retired army officer by threatening to file a fake case against him and siphoned off ₹56,000 from his bank accounts.
Based on a complaint filed by a resident of Cunningham Road, the Central Cyber Crime Division police on Tuesday registered a case against unknown people, charging them under the IT Act and Section 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
According to the complainant, he received a call on his mobile on October 27 and the caller identified himself as Sanjay Pishe, Inspector, Mumbai Police. The caller informed him that a criminal complaint was filed against him for public harassment through a mobile phone and that the SIM card was registered in his name.
He asked him to appear before the Mumbai police or he would be arrested. Pishe later asked his colleague to get in touch with another fake officer, identified as Kavitha Pomane, who offered help and conducted an investigation through video call when the victim said she could not travel to Mumbai due to her age. She tied up another fake officer identified as Vishwas and the duo asked him not to reveal it to anyone.
He followed their instructions and shared all his family details, bank accounts and personal information. They told him that they would freeze the account for a few days to check the transactions as per RBI guidelines as it was suspected of money laundering.
The accused accessed his bank accounts and transferred ₹56,05,200, including mutual funds after their liquidation, by November 12. They promised to return the transferred money within three days and disappeared.
The scam came to light when there was no response. Police advised people not to take such calls and report such matters to their family members or call 1930 for immediate assistance.
In a similar incident, cyber crooks posing as the Mumbai police threatened a 71-year-old man with a case of human trafficking and money laundering and lost ₹2.12 crore on November 5.
The victim, a resident of Channasandra, was approached by the accused over phone saying that a complaint had been lodged against him. Before transferring the savings, they forced him to reveal his bank account details and fled.
The Whitefield police have registered a case.
Published – 20 Nov 2025 21:39 IST
