Man Duped of Rs 3 Lakh by Cyber Fraudster Pretending to be Police Officer

Mumbai, April 21: In another case of fraud, a 26-year-old man, was allegedly duped of Rs 3 lakh by a gang of three cyber fraudsters, including a woman, who convinced him that his documents were misused by a criminal to commit crimes and he needed to register a case for which he would have to pay money. To win his trust, one of the fraudsters allegedly wore a police uniform and posed as a crime branch officer from Delhi on a WhatsApp video call. The man works in a pharma company in Borivali.

Online Fraud in Mumbai: 26-Year-Old Man Duped of Rs 3 Lakh by Cyber Fraudster Pretending to be Police Officer

Borivali police on April 13 registered an FIR in this regard. The man told the police that on April 7, he received a phone call from a woman named Swati Patil who said she was calling from a Delhi passport office. “She told me that she was checking my details and asked me to take out my Aadhar Card. She correctly read out my name, birthdate and Aadhaar card number. Then she read a passport number but I told her that I do not have any passport,” the complainant said. Fraud in Gurugram: Hyderabad Engineer Duped of Rs 9 Lakh by Fake Call Centre on the Pretext of Providing Job

According to the Indian Express, the woman told the complainant that he had been to Thailand on March 30 and did some illegal work and the passport office had received a complaint from the immigration department. “I told her I do not have a passport. How will I go abroad? I have never been to any state but Maharashtra and Gujarat. She then told me that I am innocent and someone had misused my documents to make a new passport,” the man said in his complaint.  Online Fraud in Mumbai: 31-Year-Old Software Developer Falls to E-Wallet Fraud, Duped of Rs 5.06 Lakh

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The woman told him that he needed to write a letter and post it to the Delhi crime branch, according to the FIR. Then another man came on the line, picked up and introduced himself as Sunil Kumar Naik from the Delhi crime branch and asked him how he could help, the complainant said.

“I narrated what Patil told me and Naik also said I am innocent. Naik then made a Whatsapp video call. I picked up the call and saw he was in a police uniform. He said there is an arrest warrant against me. He sent me a web link and asked me to check which case is registered against me by entering my Aadhaar number. I clicked on the link and entered my number and a page got opened which showed there was an arrest warrant against me for money laundering, drugs and human trafficking,” the man told the police.

After paying the money a clearance certificate was sent to him on WhatsApp. The man waited for 48 hours but did not get a refund. He tried calling on the numbers but no one picked up. He realised he was duped and approached the police.