‘Golden Hour Action Key In Digital Arrest Scams’

Nagpur: Chandrakant Kothekar, a retired Central govt employee, and his wife Meena choked with emotion while recalling how they lost their life's savings of 89 lakh in a digital arrest scam. The couple was one of many senior citizens who became soft targets for cyber fraudsters. Fortunately for them, city police cyber cell helped them recover 20 lakh.On Saturday, Nagpur CP Ravinder Singal handed over the cheque for recovered amount at the one-day cyber awareness seminar. "I got a call stating my name was linked to some terror activity and thereafter I was duped of my whole life's savings," said Chandrakant sobbing before handing over the mic to his wife to narrate their plight. Praising the Kothekar couple for approaching police without wasting time, CP Singal stressed that the "golden hour" response is crucial in digital arrest scams. Nagpur city police and Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), Nagpur, had organised the seminar at Police Bhavan, primarily focused on protecting the elderly from online scams, especially digital arrest. "The Nagpur Cyber Cell returned assets worth 5 crore to victims during the workshop," said DCP Cyber Deepak Aggarwal. This included 4.50 crore frozen in fraudsters' bank accounts in cases registered since January 2026 and 232 recovered mobile phones valued at approximately 43 lakhs.Joint CP Navinchandra Reddy pointed out that cyber crime has surpassed even murder, rape or dacoity in the number of victims. He emphasised using the "golden hour" after any cyber fraud for immediate reporting to improve the chances of recovery.Senior citizens and retired officers were advised not to panic, share bank details or download APK files from unknown sources.