The veteran transferred money from his savings accounts to accounts specified by the fraudsters, which police suspect were mule accounts. Between the last week of August and the first week of September, he transferred a total of Rs 1.28 crore. (AI generated Image)“Your phone has been used to send pornographic content.” This was the claim made by a caller posing as an official from the “Telecom Headquarters in New Delhi” to a Pune-based Army veteran in his 70s, triggering a week-long digital arrest scam in which he was threatened with arrest and allegedly duped of Rs 1.28 crore from his savings and fixed deposits.According to an FIR registered at the Pune city cyber police station last week, the veteran received a call on August 20 from an unknown woman claiming to be from the “Telecom Headquarters”. She told him that a phone registered in his name was being used to make fraudulent calls and send obscene videos from Mumbai. She then connected him to a fraudster posing as a Mumbai Crime Branch police officer.The caller told the veteran that an FIR had been registered against the mobile number. When he denied any involvement, the fraudster sent him a copy of an FIR and photographs of the alleged obscene content on WhatsApp. The caller also questioned him about his family, bank accounts, fixed deposits and gold holdings. He told the veteran that, being a senior citizen, he would be “helped” but could be placed under “digital arrest”.Later, during a video call, another fraudster in a police uniform identified himself as a CBI officer named “Pawar” and said a senior officer, “Vijay Khanna”, would take over the investigation. In a subsequent call, the person posing as Khanna instructed the veteran to break his fixed deposits and transfer the money to his bank account. Fearing legal action, the veteran complied.The callers remained in continuous contact with him through voice and video calls, claiming that the transactions were required to verify his bank accounts. The veteran transferred money from his savings accounts to accounts specified by the fraudsters, which police suspect were mule accounts. Between the last week of August and the first week of September, he transferred a total of Rs 1.28 crore.The veteran and his wife became suspicious after noticing that the callers were asking them to transfer money to different bank accounts. When questioned, the fraudsters allegedly claimed this was part of their “procedure”.On September 1, the veteran’s wife contacted their daughter, who lives abroad, and told her about the calls and transfers. The daughter realised they were being defrauded and alerted them. The veteran subsequently approached the cybercrime helpline and Pune city cyber police, who registered an FIR.Story continues below this adDespite repeated warnings from government agencies, digital arrest scams remain a threat. Fraudsters pose as police, CBI, ED or other officials and use threats of arrest to force victims to transfer money. The funds are often routed through mule accounts and multiple layers of transactions, with some cases linked to overseas cybercrime networks.