In a distressing incident from early August, a woman in northeast Delhi was defrauded of Rs 2 lakh after being placed under 'digital house arrest' by scammers posing as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials. The fraudsters falsely claimed that her husband had been arrested on rape charges and demanded the ransom for his release.

According to a report from PTI (via TOI), the perpetrators—Raju Ray (29), Guddu Kumar Sharma (29), and Pappu Kumar (22)—all residents of Bihar, orchestrated the scam by calling the victim and identifying themselves as CBI Crime Branch officers. They threatened to publicly disclose the fabricated charges against her husband unless she paid Rs 2 lakh. Terrified by the threats, the woman transferred the sum into two bank accounts provided by the scammers.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Joy Tirkey explained, “A complaint was received from an NDMC employee stating that his wife had been contacted by unknown callers, who introduced themselves as officials from the CBI Crime Branch.” The scammers kept the woman on the phone for nearly six hours. Acting on intelligence and technical surveillance, the police conducted raids in Bihar, successfully arresting the trio involved in the scam.