Woman cheated of Rs 53 lakh on promise of high returns, cyber cops nab one

The Mumbai cyber cops nabbed a man for allegedly duping a woman entrepreneur of Rs 53 lakh after promising her high returns on investments, a police official said on Thursday, reported the PTI.

The arrested man was identified as Dinesh Rupal Chawla, 38.

He was arrested by the cyber cell of Mumbai Police`s North Region, the police said.

“Chawla was in touch with cyber fraudsters and had opened multiple bank accounts for them to deposit money taken away from victims. He was held on the complaint of Rani Kahar, who invested Rs 60 lakh after being added to a Whatsapp group promoting such investments with the promise of high returns,” he said, according to the PTI.

“She only got Rs 6.25 lakh back, while all attempts to withdraw the rest were blocked, which made her suspicious. Kahar then approached police. Our probe zeroed in on Chawla, who confessed to opening bank accounts on the instructions of cyber criminals and allowing them to use the accounts to collect the defrauded money,” he said, as per the PTI.

There may be more persons involved in the scam and a probe into the entire aspects of the crime is underway, the official said.

Mumbai Police busts cyber fraud gang using fake companies to defraud people

Meanwhile, in an another incident, the Malwani Police in Mumbai busted a gang involved in a cyber fraud operation and arrested two accused who were using fake companies and bank accounts to route money obtained through online scams, the officials said on Wednesday.

According to the police officials, the accused used to lure job seekers by promising employment opportunities and would collect their documents under the pretext of completing job formalities. Using these documents, they registered fake private companies and opened current accounts in various banks.

These accounts were then used to deposit and move money acquired through cyber fraud, police said.

The cyber fraud came to light when a 20-year-old complainant received a GST notice to the address linked with one of the fake companies. Bank account transactions amounting to approximately Rs 3.42 crore were recorded within a span of just four months, an official said.

“The complainant is a 20-year-old woman and a resident of Malwani, who was searching for a job when she came in contact with the accused– Abhishek Pandey and Akash Vishwakarma through an app. The duo promised her employment and collected her personal documents under the guise of completing hiring formalities,” said investigating officer Police Sub Inspector D. Kurkute, Malwani Cyber Unit.

The accused used the complainant’s documents to set up a fake private limited company and opened multiple current accounts in her name across different banks.

In one such account, around Rs 3.42 crore was transacted over the last four months.

The fraud came to light when the complainant received a GST notice, alerting her to the misuse of her identity.

“Based on the information and mobile numbers shared by the complainant, the police traced and arrested both accused from the Goregaon area on Tuesday,” said an officer from Malwani Police Station.

(with PTI inputs)