Alert Axis Bank manager foils digital arrest bid, saves Rs 64 lakh of senior citizen in Gurgaon

Gurgaon: A bank officer who noticed consecutive high-value money transfers from a customer's account and, thinking on her feet, intervened with recipient banks to keep them on hold helped foil a ‘digital arrest' scam in which a senior citizen could have lost more than Rs 6 crore.

Thanks to Meet Sabharwal, a relationship manager with Axis Bank's Galleria Market branch, the Rs 64 lakh that the senior citizen had been coerced into transferring by the cyber gang – which impersonated Mumbai Police and CBI officers and told him over a call that they had found his involvement in "criminal activities" – was also recovered, police said.


Sabharwal was on Friday given a Rs 20,000 reward by police commissioner Vikas Arora for his decisive action. Police said the senior citizen filed a complaint with Cyber East police station on Nov 18.

In his complaint, he said the digital arrest gang had his phone and Aadhaar numbers and claimed they were linked to criminals. "The gang put him under digital arrest over video call on Nov 10 and managed to coerce him into redeeming mutual funds worth Rs 5.9 crore," a police officer said. The funds were to reach his Axis Bank account three days after the liquidation of the mutual funds.

In the meantime, he was made to make two transfers from his Axis bank account on Nov 11 and 12. "The victim transferred Rs 20 lakh to an SBI account in Jamshedpur on Nov 11 and another Rs 44 lakh to an Axis Bank account at Bandra in Mumbai the next day," the officer said.

At the Galleria branch, where he had his account, the unnatural transactions raised eyebrows. Unable to reach the account holder, Sabharwal contacted the Jamshedpur SBI branch and the Axis Bandra branch and got both transferred amounts kept on hold. He also had the Axis accounts of the senior citizen and his wife frozen to prevent any further transfers.

Police said Sabharwal tried to reach the senior citizen multiple times, but the latter did not answer the calls "out of fear induced by the fraudsters". "He finally spoke to Sabharwal on Nov 18 after the ‘digital arrest' ended and disclosed details of the extortion, after which the RM persuaded him to file a police complaint," a police officer said. The fraudsters, frustrated about the transfers not coming through, appeared to have given up.

The police team led by inspector Amit Kumar, SHO Cyber Crime East, that investigated the case was told by the manager of Axis Bank's Bandra branch that the account holder there, a part of the cyber gang, had been repeatedly inquiring about transfers and pressuring staff to unblock his account, which too had been frozen after Sabharwal raised the alarm.

With cyber fraudsters preying on hundreds of Indians every day, Sabharwal's intervention underlines the critical role bank officers can play in thwarting suspicious money transfers, blocking them at source and making recovery much easier than the complex transaction web that cyber sleuths must track once the stolen money races through accounts.

ACP (cyber) Priyanshu Dewan said police hold monthly coordination meetings with bank representatives. "We have been reiterating directions to curb cybercrime to bank representatives. Among them is strict KYC verification to prevent fake and mule accounts, immediate reporting of suspicious or large transactions, proactive communication with customers regarding high-value debits, and monthly review of suspicious accounts and updated verification registers," he said.

Dewan urged residents to remain vigilant, saying no police or security agency in India conducts a ‘digital arrest'. "Awareness is the only real protection against cyber fraudsters. In case of any suspicious transaction or call, dial the cyber helpline 1930 immediately," Dewan added.

"The proactive way in which the relationship manager acted helped prevent a major fraud. So, he was honoured for it. My request to all bankers is that if any senior citizen comes and wants to transfer a large amount suddenly, at least verify it once and inform police," commissioner Arora said.

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