Lucknow Digital Arrest Scam: 85-Year-Old Man Duped Of Rs 84.5 Lakh By Fraudsters Posing as Police And ATS Officials

DIGITAL ARREST IN LUCKNOW: An 85-year-old from Lucknow, Badruddin Ansari, got caught up in an alarming cyber scam. People pretending to be police and ATS officers managed to extort Rs 84.5 lakh from him, trapping him in what they called a “digital arrest.” It all started on March 7 when a man called Ansari, claiming to be a senior inspector with Lucknow police.

Elderly man duped of Rs. 85 Lakh in Lucknow

He told Ansari his name had showed up in a money laundering investigation in Pune. On top of that, someone supposedly opened a fake HDFC Bank account in his name, and they said it was being used for illegal transactions.

After that call, things got worse. For nearly a month, the scammers kept pressuring him. They sent fake documents over WhatsApp and Signal, using names of big agencies like NIA, Supreme Court, and RBI to make the story sound believable. Different callers kept ringing him, introducing themselves as ATS officials, and threatened him with arrest and legal trouble.

Frightened and overwhelmed, Ansari gave in. Between March 11 and April 4, he ended up transferring Rs 84.5 lakh into several accounts the scammers controlled. It took 21 days before Ansari, shaken and distressed, went to the cyber police. They’ve managed to freeze Rs 27 lakh so far, and are still working to track down the rest.

Police say this case really highlights how these “digital arrest” scams are on the rise. Scammers are using fear and false authority to push people into financial disaster.

Previous case of digital arrest reported in Bhopal

Aruna Chincholkar, a 64-year-old woman living in Bhopal, lost Rs 25.65 lakh to a ruthless “digital arrest” scam. Cybercriminals pretending to be high-ranking security officials managed to trap her mentally and drain her savings.

It all started when she got a WhatsApp call from someone claiming to work at the Internal Security and Counter-Terrorism departments. They didn’t bother with small talk. They went straight into their act, telling her she was under investigation for a major national security issue. The whole thing felt official enough to rattle anyone.

They didn’t just threaten her; they kept her glued to her phone, isolated, and completely under their control, like she was actually under some kind of house arrest.

She felt watched. Every move, every thought, was monitored. Eventually, they convinced her to believe that the only way out was to transfer Rs 25.65 lakh for “legal verification.” She did it, desperate to clear her name and end the nightmare. The case first landed with Bhopal Cyber Police in November 2025, but now it’s grabbed attention across the country. Once the Supreme Court stepped in and asked the CBI to investigate, it turned into much more than just another local cybercrime.

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