Cyber fraudsters cheat three Nagpur residents of Rs 50 lakh, posing as police and terror probe officials
Three people in Nagpur, including two retired officers, were defrauded of a total of Rs 50 lakh by cyber criminals, and cyber police have registered cases.
Nagpur: Cyber criminals have defrauded three people, including a retired officer, by frightening them with claims of links to terrorists. The victims were cheated of a total of Rs 50 lakh. Cyber police have registered cases and begun an investigation.
The victim in the first case, Sanjay Londhekar (57), is a retired officer. On the morning of October 1, a man calling himself Keshav Jadhav phoned him and said he was speaking from Mumbai Police headquarters. A video call followed, in which a police officer in uniform was shown to him.
Londhekar was told that his Aadhaar card had been found at the site of a terror attack in Kashmir. He was also told that a loan of Rs 7 crore had been taken from a private bank to carry out anti-national activity, and that he would soon be arrested in the matter. The purported Jadhav sent a fake RBI order and an arrest warrant on WhatsApp and said he had been placed under "digital arrest". He threatened that, because of the digital arrest, Londhekar must not even step out of his house. He forced Londhekar to transfer Rs 10 lakh to different accounts.
This went on for a week. Londhekar then told his family everything and filed a complaint at the cyber police station. Police have registered a case under various sections of fraud and the IT Act and started an investigation.
In the second case, Kamini, 74, is also a retired officer. On August 26, she received a video call on WhatsApp. The caller pretended to be speaking from the Colaba Crime Branch, Mumbai. He told Kamini that a case had been registered against her. He also said a Canara Bank ATM card issued in her name had been used for terror activities and money laundering, and that she would be arrested in the case.
The accused asked Kamini for details of her assets and information about her family. He also threatened to have her family members arrested. By frightening her, he got her to transfer Rs 22.80 lakh online to different accounts. On Kamini's complaint, cyber police have registered a case under fraud provisions and the IT Act.
In the third incident, the victim, Ravi Bhagat (42), was contacted on Instagram by cyber criminals from different numbers. He was lured with the promise of big profits if he invested in the share market and stock trading. He was added to several WhatsApp groups and induced to invest. Saying that profits had been made on the amounts invested, they got him to invest Rs 15.74 lakh. When Bhagat asked for his money back, the accused cut off contact.
On Bhagat's complaint, cyber police have registered a case under fraud provisions and the IT Act against Sanvi Wadhwa, Madhu, Aaradhya Bhasin and other accused.
