Mumbai, 18 June

Cyber fraudsters posing as Delhi ATS and Jammu & Kashmir police personnel cheated an elderly woman from Mumbai of Rs 22 lakh after accusing her of spying for Pakistan, officials said on Wednesday.

This is the first case in the city of a cyber fraud using espionage as a guise to cheat people, an official claimed.

The 64-year-old woman, who lives at Girgaon in south Mumbai, approached South Region Cyber Police Station last week.

As per her complaint, she received three calls earlier this month from unidentified numbers.

The caller posed as "Delhi ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) officer Prem Kumar Gupta" and posted at "Jammu and Kashmir Border Police Station", the official said.

He told the woman that a case was registered against her for sharing sensitive information with Pakistan, he said.

The fraudster then threatened her saying she would face 10-year imprisonment for espionage along with a fine of Rs 50 lakh. He also shared a photo of his ID card with the woman on her phone to make her believe the claims, the official said.

Scared of arrest and other legal complications, the woman deposited Rs 22.4 lakh in various bank accounts, which were provided by the fraudster between 5 and 10 June, he said.

The woman stopped getting the phone calls after she paid the money, and later realised she was cheated.

She lodged a complaint with the South Region Cyber police on 13 June, based on which a case was registered against unidentified persons under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act, the official said.