75-year-old man loses over Rs 11 cr in Mumbai’s second biggest cyber fraud of 2024

After this, Smith added his name to another group and also shared a link. The complainant clicked on the link and downloaded the company’s app for trading. After this, he started to get messages from Smith and her associates regarding institutional account trading, OTC trading, IPOs, etc., the complainant stated in the FIR.

The complainant was made to send money to different bank accounts to invest in the stock recommended by Smith and her associates. Raising suspicion over multiple bank accounts, when the elderly person asked her about this, she told him that this was being done to save taxes.

Between September 5 and October 19, the complainant sent Rs 11,16 crore in 22 transactions to various bank accounts as directed by the accused persons, the FIR stated.

While making these transactions, the complainant didn’t raise much suspicion, as he could see on the company’s app that the money was being credited to his account as well as the profit earned on the investment, police sources said.

The complainant was very happy to see a huge profit in his account in the trading company’s app. However, when he tried to withdraw the profit, his request was declined. He then contacted Smith, seeking assistance in withdrawing his profit.

Smith then told him that he would have to pay 20 per cent service tax on the entire amount. Despite the complainant paying this “service tax”, he was asked to pay more money towards other charges to withdraw money. This made him feel he was being cheated, police officials said.

To clear his doubts and make a complaint, he went to the head office of the financial services company. There he was shocked to be informed that he had invested money in a fraud company. After this, he approached the police and filed a complaint. The South region cyber police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act against two unknown fraudsters and initiated an investigation.

During a preliminary police inquiry, it was revealed that the company’s bank accounts in which the complainant was made to deposit money for investment purpose were held by different individuals in UCO Bank, ICICI Bank, Canara Bank, Bandhan Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, and Catholic Syrian Bank having branches in Bhopal, Bandra (Mumbai), Nagpur, Surat, Hyderabad, Ghazipur, Lucknow, Banaskantha, Hawrah, Bharuch, Bhilai, and Jaipur. Investigators were in the process of writing to concerned banks seeking details of the beneficiaries.

In April this year, a senior citizen from the city’s western suburbs was duped of nearly Rs 25 crore in the digital arrest cyber fraud method. It is the biggest cyber fraud case in Mumbai this year. The elderly woman was intimidated by fraudsters who posed as CBI officers. They said her name cropped up in a money laundering case and later they tricked her into depositing her life savings in bank accounts in the name of a refundable verification procedure and defrauded her. Only around Rs 5 lakh could be saved by the police, as she approached cops too late, sources in the cyber police department said.

Cyber police officials have appealed to citizens to immediately contact the national cyber crime helpline number 1930 if they are targeted by cyber fraudsters. The sooner victims contact the helpline, higher are the chances of lost money being recovered, cyber police officials said.