Tarun Karthick
Sri Vijaya Puram, 05 July 2025
A woman from Rangat was cheated of ₹2.7 lakh in an online fraud after receiving a fake WhatsApp call claiming her son was involved in a criminal case.
According to the FIR registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station in Sri Vijaya Puram, the incident took place on 22nd June 2025. The mother received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be from the police station and told her that her elder son was in their custody. He said one of her son’s friends had been arrested in a rape case and had named her son as being involved. The caller also told her that the victim girl had died, and her son would soon be arrested.
During the call, the mother heard a voice in the background that sounded like her son’s, which made her believe the caller’s story. The caller then demanded money, saying that she could save her son by paying a certain amount to senior officers, police staff, and even to the victim’s family as a form of “settlement.”
Out of fear and under pressure, the mother agreed to pay and was given several phone numbers through which payment instructions were sent. She ended up transferring a total of ₹2,70,000 from different bank accounts in multiple transactions.
Later, when her son did not respond to her calls, the mother and other family members panicked. After some time, the son answered a call from his younger brother and said he had been sleeping at home and was unaware of any such incident.
Realizing she had been cheated, the mother lodged a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and later submitted a written complaint to the Cyber Crime Police Station. The police have registered a case under Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and investigation is ongoing.
People are advised to stay alert and not fall for such calls. Always verify with your family members directly. Police do not ask for money in exchange for dropping cases. Any suspicious calls demanding money should be reported immediately to the Cyber Crime Helpline at 1930 or on cybercrime.gov.in. (Story Based on FIR)
