Pastor, doctor lose over Rs 30 lakh to digital arrest fraud in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: In separate incidents, fraudsters posing as law enforcement officials extorted over Rs 30 lakh from a pastor and a doctor in a digital arrest scam.In the first case, a 62-year-old pastor from Lalapet received a call on Feb 9 from an individual who introduced himself as a CBI official, Rahul Kumar Sharma, from Bengaluru. The caller claimed that an FIR had been registered against him for sending abusive messages and that an arrest warrant had been issued.
Another individual, identifying herself as IPS officer Archana Ramasundram, later contacted the victim via WhatsApp, appearing in uniform. She displayed forged documents, including a fake CBI case sheet and a fake Supreme Court order against the victim.Exploiting the pastor's fear, the gang demanded a security deposit to stall the execution of the warrant. Between Feb 10 and 18, the victim emptied his savings account, pawned gold, and took hand loans to transfer Rs 22.8 lakh in seven transactions to bank accounts provided by the accused. When the fraudsters demanded an additional Rs 47 lakh, he sought advice from friends and realised he had been duped.In the second incident, a 39-year-old doctor from Punjagutta received a call on Nov 10 from a fraudster claiming to be from TRAI. The caller alleged that a SIM card issued in the doctor's name in Mumbai had been used for spamming and sending vulgar messages. He then transferred the call to a man posing as Mumbai cybercrime police officer Vikram Arora. The impostor ordered the doctor to remain on a continuous WhatsApp video call for 48 hours for ‘monitoring' and threatened to freeze all his bank accounts as part of a money-laundering probe.Terrified, the victim transferred Rs 12 lakh to a bank account provided by the accused on Nov 15, 2025. After waiting for three months for a response from the fraudsters, he finally approached the police with a complaint on Thursday. Based on the complaints lodged by the victims, two separate cases were registered under relevant sections of the IT Act and the BNS by Hyderabad cybercrime police.