The South Cyber police arrested three individuals for allegedly duping a 78-year-old woman of Rs 1.51 crore in a meticulously orchestrated cyber fraud involving a fake “digital arrest” narrative. The mastermind, operating from Dubai, has been identified as John, while the arrested trio reportedly played a crucial role by providing mule bank accounts to facilitate the crime. The arrested accused have been identified as Sapan Prafulla Kumar, 33, from Diva near Thane; Abbu Bakar, 24; and Imran Ali Inayat Khan, 27, from Rabale in Navi Mumbai.

Digital arrest threats

The complainant, Meena Desai (name changed), is a homemaker living in the Breach Candy area. She was first contacted on December 6 last year, by a caller identifying himself as “Amit Kumar from DHL Courier, Delhi”. The caller falsely claimed that a package attributed to her name allegedly contained expired passports, narcotics and her Aadhaar card, and that all of these had been intercepted by customs officials.