A 67-year-old woman named Bharti Bai and her two daughters in Hyderabad were trapped by cybercriminals for 17 days. The criminals pretended to be Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) agents and held them captive online. During this time, the fraudsters stole Rs 5.50 crore from their bank account. The daughters were only allowed to leave briefly for their exams.

Before the victim could realise it was a scam, the criminals had already tricked them into transferring Rs 5.5 crore to their accounts. After the incident was reported, the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) filed a police report (FIR) and started an investigation.

The incident happened in Basheerbagh, Hyderabad. On November 13, Bharti Bai Agarwal received a call from someone who told her that her Aadhaar-linked phone number was involved in money laundering and drug cases, making her a suspect. The caller then passed her to two men, Saurabh Sharma and Ajay Gupta, who pretended to be CBI officers. They asked her to connect with them on Skype.

During the Skype call, Bharti and her daughters were informed that they had been "digitally arrested." They were under constant video and audio surveillance, and their freedom was greatly limited. The daughters were allowed to leave only for their exams, but once they returned, they had to immediately reconnect on Skype.

While on Skype, the fraudsters managed to get the family's bank details. They told the family that they needed to transfer money to avoid fake legal problems. The criminals said they had to check the bank account to see if it was linked to money laundering. By making these false claims, they pressured the family into sending them money. Eventually, the fraudsters stole Rs 5.5 crore from their account.