North Goa senior citizen loses Rs1.47 cr in digital arrest scam

Staff Reporter

Panaji

In yet another case of digital arrest scam, a senior citizen from North Goa has lost over Rs 1.47 crore.

Scamsters told the victim, a woman, that her Aadhaar card was used to open a nationalised bank account, which was linked to a money laundering case of Naresh Goel.

According to police sources, scammers often create an illusion while laying the trap. An online search for ‘Naresh Goel’ as mentioned by the scamsters leads to information that the Jet Airways founder was arrested in September 2023 and is now out on bail (was granted bail in November 2024).

Referring to the woman’s case, police said the incident occurred between January 12 and April 13, 2025, wherein the woman ended up transferring a whopping Rs 1,47,95,000.

The woman has filed a complaint before the cyber crime police at Ribandar. A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered and the
probe is on.

 “I was threatened and put under house arrest,” the woman said, claiming that she was forced to make payment through RTGS from a private sector bank. “I was told not to disclose it to anyone and was warned of bad consequences,” the woman said in her complaint.

On January 12, 2025, the woman received a call from a phone number. The person told the woman that he was from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and that there was a case of illegal advertising and harassment messages from a phone number, which was registered in the woman’s name.

When the woman said it was not her number, the call was transferred and a person claiming to be a CBI inspector told the woman that her Aadhaar card had been used to open a bank account, which was used for laundering money and smuggling linked to Naresh Goel’s case.

Police said the accused managed to coerce the victim, who, over a period of three months, ended up transferring the money as directed by the scamsters.