Timely Intervention from Bankers Saves Elderly Depositor: Thiruvalla Case Shows How Scammers Trap Victims in ‘Virtual Arrest’

A Suspicious Transaction Request

“She asked to withdraw all her fixed deposits at once,” he said. “I pointed out that if all the fixed deposits were closed before maturity, she would lose interest. But she insisted, saying she needed to send the money to Delhi to buy a flat for her children.”

“We asked why she was sending money directly like this,” Chandran said. “She replied that her children had instructed her. When we asked to see the chat to cross-check details, she became irritated and refused.”

Her unusual behaviour,  agitation, secrecy and reluctance to show her phone, prompted the staff to escalate the matter to Branch Manager Delna Dixon.

How Fear Engineered

Dixon recounts that the customer grew increasingly nervous as staff asked her to verify the payment instructions.

“Madam, the amount is over 20 lakhs. If it slips out of our hands, we won’t get it back,” she told the customer repeatedly. Only after insistence did the account holder reluctantly agree to “ask her children”. But her claim that the children were “busy” did not align with her continued typing on the phone.

“When she finally showed me her phone, I saw letterheads of the Supreme Court of India and the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) at the top of the messages,” Dixon said. “That’s when we knew it was a classic virtual arrest fraud. These agencies never communicate directly with individuals like this.”

The customer was simultaneously on a video call with the scammers, who had instructed her not to talk to anyone else, not even her children. She had been under their influence for nearly two days.

Inside the ‘Digital Arrest’ Trap

The fraud began on 02 November 2025, when the elderly woman received a video call from a person posing as an officer from the “Mumbai Crime Department”. He claimed her Aadhaar card was being misused to tamper with a Canara Bank account. Though she had no account with that bank, the fraudster swiftly shifted focus and demanded details of her Bank of Baroda account.

He warned her not to disclose the conversation to anyone. The call continued late into the night, and she was allowed to disconnect only when she said her phone was overheating. The next day, the calls resumed at dawn, with the scammers pushing her to transfer all her savings to the account they provided, claiming it was necessary to “clear her name”.

By the time she reached the branch to make the transfer, the scammers had created a state of fear-driven obedience. “It was as if they had hypnotised the victim through a video call,” Chandran said. “She behaved like someone’s slave. They had not allowed her to sleep properly or contact her children.”

Bankers’ Intervention Prevents Major Loss

The persistent questioning by the staff finally broke the psychological grip of the scammers. Once the fraud was confirmed, the bank withheld the transfer, informed the customer of the scam, and advised her to contact the police.

Chandran said that while staff members read about such incidents in newspapers, witnessing the effects firsthand revealed the gravity of the threat. “It would be better if bank officials ask elderly customers to show their phones when they come to transfer large amounts. This intervention saved her,” he said.

The incident demonstrates how quickly scammers can take control of a vulnerable individual and how timely human intervention can stop financial ruin. As fraudsters refine their tactics, awareness and alertness among both bank staff and customers remain the most effective defence.