Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
An 80-year-old retired female doctor in Gujarat’s Rajkot was allegedly duped of Rs 58.50 lakh in an alleged digital arrest scam after cyber fraudsters posing as Mumbai police officers threatened to arrest her in a money laundering case.
The Gujarat police have arrested two factory owners from Ahmedabad in connection with the case. The accused, Darshan Makwana and Shubham Parmar, are brothers-in-law and rented out their company’s current account to the cybercrime network for a 6 per cent commission.
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The investigation has revealed that the account was not used only for the fraud against the retired doctor. Police found that around 2.50 crore in suspected cyber fraud proceeds from across the country had been deposited into the account within just six days.
HOW THE RETIRED DOCTOR WAS TRAPPED
The 80-year-old woman, who lives in Rajkot, received a call from an unknown WhatsApp number on September 21.
The caller, who spoke in Hindi and identified himself as Sanjay Singh, claimed to be a police sub-inspector from the Colaba police station in Mumbai. He told the woman that an Aadhaar card and an ATM card bearing her details had been recovered during a raid linked to Hitesh Mehta, a manager of Mumbai’s India Cooperative Bank, in a money laundering case.
The fraudster then threatened the elderly woman with arrest, telling her that she was being investigated in connection with the alleged financial crime.
Taking advantage of her age and fear, the accused told her that she would have to remain under house arrest while the investigation was conducted.
The woman was subsequently kept under constant surveillance through video calls. Another accused, dressed in a khaki uniform and identified as Anil Sir, posed as a senior and continued to pressure and intimidate her.
Under the threat of arrest and other legal action, the fraudsters forced the retired doctor to transfer Rs 58.50 lakh.
The accused then attempted to make her transfer another 21 lakh. However, a bank employee noticed the suspicious transaction and alerted the authorities.
Police intervened before the second transfer could be completed and reached the woman, bringing an end to the alleged digital arrest.
Rs 58.50 LAKH ROUTED THROUGH COMPANY ACCOUNT
During the investigation, cybercrime police traced the Rs 58.50 lakh transferred by the woman to a current account belonging to a company linked to Makwana and Parmar.
Police said the two accused run factories in Ahmedabad and had rented out the company’s current account to the masterminds of the cyber fraud network. In return, they received a commission of 6 per cent.
The money transferred by the retired doctor was subsequently moved from the account to other accounts linked to the alleged masterminds, police said.
Further scrutiny of the account revealed a much larger trail. According to the police, around Rs 2.50 crore in suspected cyber fraud money had been deposited into the account from different parts of the country within six days.
Investigators suspect that the accused were acting as “mule account providers” — people who provide their bank accounts to cybercrime networks to receive and move stolen money.
TWO ACCUSED ARRESTED
Following a technical analysis of the transactions and scrutiny of bank account details, the cybercrime police arrested Darshan Makwana and Shubham Parmar from Ahmedabad.
Police seized four expensive mobile phones, collectively worth around Rs 1.20 lakh, along with a Dell laptop from the accused.
Investigators are now trying to identify the main operators of the cybercrime network who controlled the transactions and received the defrauded money.
Police suspect that the masterminds may be operating across state borders or from outside India.
The cybercrime team is also working to freeze the bank accounts and trace the flow of the suspected fraud proceeds.
The investigation into the wider network and other people whose accounts may have been used to route cyber fraud money is ongoing.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
