Mumbai: Two men have been arrested in connection with a cyber fraud in which a senior citizen had been duped of Rs 5 lakh by scammers offering him a discount on Initial Public Offer (IPO) investment in companies. Of the two accused, one was a beneficiary of the defrauded money into his bank account while the other got needy people to open bank accounts and share their details with him. He, in turn, gave these account details to the masterminds of the cybercrime.
The 62-year-old complainant lives in Santacruz (west). Earlier this month, he found his phone number being added to a WhatsApp group. Tips to invest in the stock market and make good profits were being shared in the group.
The scammers assured the complainant a guaranteed IPO allotment and at a discount, said an official from Santacruz police station. He was asked to click on a link and follow instructions to open a fake demat account. “He transferred Rs 5 lakh to the scammers, but no IPO allotment was ever made to him,” the official said.
Next, the scammers asked him to invest Rs 40 lakh, which the complainant said alerted him. He approached the police. He dialled cyber helpline ‘1930′ and shared details of the fraud which helped officials to freeze the perpetrator’s bank account. An FIR was registered on Dec 6.
Police teams comprising cyber officer Vijay Sardesai and inspector Ranjeet Andhale, supervised by senior inspector Vaibhav Shingare and DCP Dikshit Gedam, started investigating. The account into which the complainant’s money was fraudulently transferred belonged to a 30-year-old air conditioning mechanic from Dharavi. He was arrested. He led the police to a youth in his early twenties, also from Dharavi. He used to get needy people to open bank accounts and share bank details with him. These were shared with cyber criminals to receive defrauded money.
“The youth was paying people Rs 40,000 for every current account opened, and he charged 1% of the defrauded amount as his commission,” said an officer. Police are looking for two associates of the accused, besides the mastermind.
A senior police officer appealed to citizens to not fall for such frauds, and to not click on unknown links. “In case of a cyber fraud, dial the helpline 1930 at once,” said the senior officer.
