Mumbai: In a shocking case of cyber impersonation, fraudsters posing as senior police officials including encounter specialist Daya Nayak — who is soon to retire after being promoted as Assistant Commissioner of Police — have duped a 40-year-old woman from Ghatkopar of Rs 4 lakh by luring her into a fake “digital arrest” operation.
Fraudsters Used Deepfake-Style Video Calls To Impersonate Top Cops
According to the FIR, the victim, Madhavi Vitthal Borhade, a resident of Jeevdaya Lane, Bhatwadi, Ghatkopar (West), and an employee at OCD Pvt. Ltd., Andheri, received a WhatsApp call on July 19 around 12:30 pm from an unknown number.
The caller falsely claimed to be an officer from the Delhi Police cyber unit and alleged that Borhade’s Aadhaar card had been misused to open several bank accounts involved in illegal transactions.
Borhade insisted she would visit her local police station to clarify the matter. The fraudster redirected the conversation, claiming that Mumbai Police officials —“DCP Daya Nayak” and “Pramod Verma”—would speak to her via video call.
During the call, two men dressed in police uniforms appeared and further intimidated her, stating her Aadhaar number was linked to an ongoing case involving a criminal named Naresh Goyal. Keeping her on the call, the scammers escalated the fear, saying that top police officials and a bank manager were involved in the case.
She was informed that CBI officer “Rashmi Shukla” would conduct a virtual inquiry the following day. On July 20 at around 11:30 am, she received another video call featuring multiple people posing as officials, one of whom introduced herself as “CBI Officer Rashmi Shukla” and told Borhade that she would be jailed if she did not comply.
Fake Supreme Court Orders Sent On WhatsApp To Demand Money
To strengthen the deception, they sent her a fake Supreme Court of India order via WhatsApp. The order asked her to transfer Rs 2 lakh for verification to a Bank of Baroda account belonging to one “Harsat Behera”. Borhade, in a state of fear, complied via net banking.
They soon sent another forged letter, asking for another Rs 2 lakh to be transferred to an account in Bank of Maharashtra, Amravati, in the name of Mahendra Gyaneshwar Shelke.
Ghatkopar Resident Realises Scam After Third Transfer Attempt
Still unaware of the fraud, Borhade complied. A third fake Supreme Court order followed, demanding a Rs 2 lakh deposit to cancel her arrest warrant.
This time, the account was under the name Barkat Ali at RBL Bank. Sensing something suspicious at this stage, she ended the call and informed her brother Kushal, who advised her to immediately call the national cyber helpline 1930.
She reported the incident and later filed an official complaint at the Ghatkopar Police Station. Based on her complaint, a case has been registered against unidentified individuals under sections 318(4), 319(2), and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 66(D) of the Information Technology (IT) Act. The investigation is currently underway.
