Nagpur: A 65-year-old man from Khamla was allegedly duped of ₹4.5 lakh after cyber fraudsters posing as senior officers of the Mumbai Police and National Investigation Agency (NIA) threatened him with arrest in a fake terrorism-linked investigation.
The victim, Suresh Pohankar, a resident Jayprakash Nagar, approached the Cyber Police after realising that he had fallen victim to the elaborate ‘digital arrest’ scam.
According to the complaint, the fraud began on August 25 when Pohankar received a call from a man identifying himself as Akash Sharma, who claimed to be a Senior Police Inspector from the Mumbai Police Headquarters. The caller allegedly told him that his identity documents had been misused to open an HDFC Bank account and that the account was being used to fund terrorist activities.
The fraudster allegedly warned Pohankar that an arrest warrant could be issued against him and told him that an NIA officer would contact him as part of the investigation.
Soon after, another accused contacted Pohankar through WhatsApp while posing as an NIA officer. Over the following days, several other unknown persons allegedly joined the conversation using different mobile numbers, reinforcing the impression that he was facing a serious investigation.
The accused allegedly demanded Pohankar’s personal documents and banking information under the pretext of verifying his accounts and clearing his name. They subsequently instructed him to transfer ₹4.5 lakh to bank accounts provided by them, claiming the money was required for verification and would be refunded after the inquiry.
After realising that he had been deceived, Pohankar approached the Cyber Police Station and lodged a complaint.
Police have registered a case under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to cheating, impersonation, forgery and criminal conspiracy, along with relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.
The Cyber Police are investigating the case and tracing the accused, the mobile numbers used for the calls and the bank accounts into which the money was transferred.
