The Mumbai city police are currently dealing with a significant increase in cyber fraud cases, where con artists impersonating senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers have reportedly swindled over ₹100 crore from victims’ bank accounts.

What Happened: The Times of India reports that the police have received a minimum of 50 complaints recently. In these cases, the fraudsters, masquerading as senior IPS officers, have tricked victims into believing they were being investigated for various crimes. The victims span a wide range of professions, including doctors, bankers, professors, and businessmen.

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The modus operandi of the scammers involved persuading the victims to download specific apps under the guise of recording statements online, subsequently draining their bank accounts. In one such case, a businessman from Santacruz lost ₹20 lakh after being informed that his Aadhaar card was under investigation for money laundering.

These fraudsters reportedly use the names of well-known IPS officers to instil fear in their victims. Investigations have revealed that the brains behind these scams are based in foreign countries like Cambodia, Dubai, Thailand, or China, and they hire individuals in India to open accounts using counterfeit documents.

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