'Daughter Got Into Sex Scandal': UP Woman Dies Of Cardiac Arrest After Hoax Call

A woman in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, reportedly died of a cardiac arrest on September 30 hours after receiving a hoax phone call about her daughter getting caught in a sex scandal. Malti Verma, a government school teacher, told her family that the fraudsters threatened her and demanded ₹1 lakh in exchange for concealing her daughter's identity. Although she later found that it was a fraudulent call, the shock deteriorated her health and led to her death.

How The Fraud Led To Her Death

Malti Verma was a government teacher at a Junior High School in Achhnera in Agra. She reportedly received a call on WhatsApp around noon while at school. The callers posed as police inspectors and allegedly threatened to expose their daughter's identity in public if she did not send them ₹1 lakh.

The 58-year-old woman's son, Deepanshu Rajput, told the Press Trust of India about what happened next. "After that, she talked to me over the phone and informed me about the call. But when I checked the phone number, I told my mother that it was a fraud call from cyber criminals."

Rajput called his sister and found out that everything was fine. "I asked my mother not to worry because she was a victim of cyber fraud, but she could not control her tension and her health deteriorated," he told the news agency. After returning from school, Verma complained of chest pain and anxiety.

As the woman's health continued to worsen, her family took her to a hospital. Doctors declared that she had suffered and cardiac arrest and declared her dead. Anandveer Singh, Jagdishpura police station in-charge said they are investigating the case based on a complaint filed by the family.

The case created nationwide headlines, catching the attention of political leaders. The Congress government commented on this incident on X, "This is not the first incident of 'digital arrest' in the country. Such cases are coming to light every day. Cybercriminals are continuously harming people."

A similar case of 'digital arrest' happened with renowned poet Naresh Saxena from Lucknow in July 2024. The elderly man was  'confined' on a video call for at least six hours and was threatened with arrest in a faux money laundering case if he did not recite some poems.