Mira-Bhayandar: A 72-year-old woman living alone in Mira Road lost Rs 22.54 lakh in the digital arrest scam, which played out between December 10, 2024 and until recently. During the same period, another septuagenarian woman was duped of more than Rs 15.49 lakh by fake cops.

In her complaint to the police, the Mira Road resident, whose late father worked for the Army, said that she received a call from a man, who told her that her Aadhaar card was found to be linked with illegal cash transactions in Bihar, Punjab, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. He threatened her with arrest and subsequently made her speak with fake uniformed personnel video calls.

Later, with an assurance to help her get out from the ambit of investigations, the scammers sought her banking details and asked her to deposit Rs 1 lakh in a specified account.

The flummoxed woman followed the instructions and transferred a total of Rs 22.54 lakh via 11 transactions within a period of 23 days. When the demands went on increasing, the woman confided in her Canada-based cousin brother, who advised her to register a complaint with the police.