Four hours on a video call with a fake CBI officer
A retired teacher was told a parcel in her name held banned items. She was kept on camera and told not to contact family.
- Recovered
- ₹1,20,000 frozen
- Reported by
- Anonymous Pune, Maharashtra
How it happened
The call came from a number that looked like a landline. The man said a courier addressed to her, sent to Taiwan, had been opened at Mumbai airport and contained passports and banned tablets. He knew her full name and the last four digits of an old Aadhaar-linked number, which is why she stayed on the line.
Within ten minutes she was moved to a video call. Behind the caller was a room with a police emblem on the wall. She was told the case was under the Supreme Court, that her name was on an arrest list, and that speaking to family would make her an accomplice. For four hours she was not allowed to leave the camera.
The demand was framed as verification, not payment. Her savings were to be transferred to an RBI account for checking and returned within two hours. She made two transfers. Her daughter came home, saw the screen, and disconnected the call.
Step by step
Yes
This account was submitted by a reader and reviewed by our moderation team. Names, numbers and identifying details have been removed. It is published for awareness and is not a legal record.
What this teaches
- No police officer, CBI or court conducts an arrest, an interrogation or a verification over a video call.
- Isolation is the tactic. The instruction not to tell family exists only because family would end the call.
- No government body holds your money for verification. There is no such account.