Three Arrested for 'Digital Arrest' Scam in Lucknow, Duping Couple of Rs 90 Lakh

PTI, February 17, 2026, Lucknow : Three individuals were arrested for allegedly duping a couple in Lucknow out of Rs 90 lakh by posing as Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers and placing them under a "digital arrest," police said on Tuesday.

According to a police statement, the incident was reported by the complainant, who stated that on January 26, his wife received a call from someone claiming to be "Inspector Ranjeet Kumar posted at the ATS headquarters."

The caller allegedly accused her of involvement in serious crimes such as terrorism and money laundering and threatened immediate legal action and arrest. The complainant was then pressured to download the Signal app, where another person, identifying himself as ATS officer Ajay Pratap Srivastava, contacted them.

The accused allegedly showed fake Supreme Court orders and seizure documents and convinced the couple that, to avoid arrest and complete the "investigation," the money in their bank accounts had to be transferred to designated accounts for "verification."

Under fear and coercion, the complainant and his wife transferred around Rs 90 lakh through RTGS to different bank accounts between January 29 and February 9, police said. The accused later allegedly demanded an additional Rs 11 lakh, and when the couple expressed their inability to pay, they were threatened and abused.

After the matter was reported, an FIR was filed under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Lucknow. A team led by Cyber Crime Station in-charge Brijesh Kumar Yadav was formed to investigate the case.

The team arrested three accused: Mayank Srivastava (24) from Gorakhpur, Irshad (23) from Ghaziabad, and Manish Kumar alias Akash (24) from Delhi. According to the official statement, during interrogation, Mayank confessed that he was lured into the racket due to financial distress and was promised a commission for providing his bank account. He revealed that he was called to Delhi and made to stay at hotels in Paharganj, Chandni Chowk, and later in Noida, where the accused used his mobile phone and bank credentials to route the proceeds of the cyber fraud. Mayank was allegedly paid Rs 10,000 in cash and promised an additional Rs 2 lakh.

Irshad reportedly admitted to working on a three-percent commission and procuring bank accounts, cheque books, and debit cards from account holders by luring them with money. Manish alias Akash allegedly handled fraudulent transactions and kept the cheque books and debit cards of account holders.

Police revealed that Rs 1.06 crore was credited to one of the accounts on February 9. Checks on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal revealed similar complaints from Tamil Nadu and other states linked to the transactions.

Three mobile phones, two cheque books (ICICI and HDFC banks), and one ICICI Bank debit card were recovered from the accused.