A warning flashed on his phone just as he was about to transfer another $32,000. The message from cryptocurrency platform Coinbase was clear: “It might be a scam”. But Atul Talwar, a 62-year-old retired lawyer from New York, ignored it. He believed the people on the other side of the call were real police officers investigating a serious terror case.
What followed was 15 days of fear, isolation and financial pressure. Fraudsters posing as officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) allegedly accused Talwar of having links to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. They then convinced him to transfer almost his entire life savings in the name of a financial verification process by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Talwar estimates that he lost around $380,000 (approximately Rs 3.3 crore) in the elaborate digital arrest scam.
“There were red flags of course. But never for a second did it feel like that they were not real policemen,” he told The Indian Express during a phone conversation from New York.
How Fraudsters Linked Retired Lawyer to Pahalgam Terror Attack
Talwar moved from Delhi to New York in 1982 when he was just 18. He spent more than three decades working as a labour lawyer, representing unions and negotiating contracts. After retiring in September, he decided to return to India and settle in the country.
He was staying at his late mother’s house in Sector 30, Noida, where renovation work was underway. He was also planning to move into the property by January. However, his plans took a shocking turn on October 16.
Talwar received a phone call from a man claiming to be from Mumbai’s Colaba police station. The caller alleged that his Aadhaar card had been linked to the Pahalgam terror attack.
“Obviously I denied it. The man then called someone from the Cyber police while I was on call. That man shouted that I be arrested immediately,” Talwar recalled.
The following day, the fraudsters allegedly sent him photographs of the Pahalgam attack victims. They claimed that a Canara Bank account had been opened in his name and that Rs 53 crore had been transferred from it to a terrorist. The callers further alleged that Talwar had received Rs 5 crore as commission.
Fake CBI Letters and 24-Hour Digital Surveillance
The fraudsters allegedly sent him a document through WhatsApp, claiming it was a confidentiality agreement issued by an Assistant Director of the CBI. From October 17, Talwar was kept under alleged 24-hour surveillance through WhatsApp video and audio calls. He was instructed not to discuss the matter with anyone.
The next day, the callers showed him two men and claimed they were armed guards arrested near his house. They allegedly presented this as further evidence of his links to terror groups. Talwar was then told that he could prove his innocence by verifying his financial assets and bank accounts with the RBI.
Since most of his savings were in the United States, the fraudsters instructed him to get a new phone and create another WhatsApp account using his US number.
How Digital Arrest Fraudsters Took His $380,000 Savings
The financial transfers began on October 21. Talwar was allegedly instructed to visit Axis Bank, break two fixed deposits worth Rs 10 lakh each and transfer the money to an account set up in the name of Durga Engineering Workshop. The fraudsters claimed the account was connected to the RBI’s verification process. They then targeted his US savings.
Talwar held around $380,000 in an individual retirement account (IRA) with Citibank. The fraudsters allegedly instructed him to liquidate the entire amount and move it into his checking account. After tax deductions of approximately $140,000, he received around $240,000.
He subsequently transferred $230,000 to Coinbase, converted the money into Ethereum cryptocurrency and sent it to a digital wallet provided by the fraudsters.
“From October 26 through November 3, I made two transfers of $32,000 and $347,000. I was warned by a pop up message on Coinbase both times. But I had already given them all my money. I was stuck. I must have lost 7-8 kg,” he said.
He also revealed that his broker had questioned the large withdrawal. Talwar told him that he was planning to purchase property in India.
How Talwar Realised He Was Being Cheated
After spending nearly two weeks under the fraudsters’ control, Talwar finally found an opportunity to leave. On November 4, he told the callers that a friend’s mother had died and that he urgently needed to visit Gurugram. The fraudsters initially resisted but eventually allowed him to leave on November 7. However, the calls disconnected on the night of November 6. Talwar repeatedly tried contacting the people who had been monitoring him. But nobody answered.
“I was already in a cab on my way to my friend’s house. I tried calling them over 10 times and got no response. This made me suspicious… I looked it up online and my suspicion was confirmed,” he recalled while talking to Indian Express. He then realised that he had been trapped in a digital arrest scam.
Noida Police Seize Rs 4 Lakh, Recovery Remains Uncertain
Talwar has filed two complaints, one with the Noida Police and another with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States. A Noida cyber police officer said investigators had seized Rs 4 lakh from an account that had received Rs 18 lakh transferred by Talwar from his Indian bank accounts.
“Since it is a mule account, we are trying to establish whether the money belongs to him or another victim,” the officer said. However, recovering the cryptocurrency transferred to the fraudsters could be difficult.
Talwar said police had indirectly indicated that recovering the money would be nearly impossible because he had converted it into Ethereum. After losing most of his retirement savings, the 62-year-old is now considering returning to work.
“I guess I will have to come out of my retirement,” he said.
Sudeep Singh Rawat is a Copy Editor at NewsX Digital with over five years of experience in digital journalism. He covers national and international news, with a focus on politics, crime, technology, public affairs, and trending topics. Before joining NewsX Digital, he worked with Business Standard, The Sunday Guardian, and other digital media organisations. His reporting focuses on breaking news, enterprise stories, and explainers that inform readers through accurate, balanced, and context-driven journalism.
The post ‘Your Aadhaar Is Linked to Pahalgam Attack’: How Fake CBI Officers Trapped a Retired Lawyer and Stole Rs 4 Crore in a 15-Day Digital Arrest Scam appeared first on NewsX.