Fraudster posing as CBI officer dupes Mumbai youth of nearly Rs 10 lakh

The 26-year-old complainant is a Borivali (West) resident. On May 15, he received a call from an unknown number. A recorded message was played over the call.

According to the police complaint, the audio message stated that a summons had been issued against him by the Delhi High Court and asked him to press ‘0’ for more details. When the complaint pressed ‘0’, the call got connected to one Sanjay Sharma who asked the complainant to furnish his full name and mobile number.

Sharma also told the complainant that a bank account has been opened in the Lajpat Nagar branch of ICICI Bank and illegal transactions worth Rs 25 lakh have been carried out from this bank account, the complainant stated in the FIR.

Sharma also told the complainant that a case has been registered against him and further enquiry will be carried out by the CBI’s chief officer of Cyber branch. He then handed over the call to another person who obtained details like his name, Aadhar card and bank accounts details etc.

The second person told the complainant that using his name and details 25 fake accounts have been opened. Hence, the money in the complainant’s ICICI bank account has to be verified legally, the FIR stated.

The person told the complainant to transfer all his money (Rs 15 lakh) from his bank account to another bank account of the CBI for verification purposes. After the verification, the money will be refunded, the complainant was told, the FIR stated.

Following instructions, the complainant in three transactions transferred Rs 9.5 lakh in the given bank account number.

However, he smelt a rat and suspected that the person could be a fraud. Hence, he started looking for information about this kind of cyber fraud over the internet. The complainant came across news articles regarding such frauds and realised that he was cheated.

He then contacted cyber fraud national helpline 1930 and followed their instructions. He also filed a police complaint.

Borivli police have registered a case of cyber fraud and are trying to get details of the beneficiary bank account holders, said an officer.

Mumbai cyber police have appealed to the citizens not to trust any caller even if they are saying that they are calling from the CBI, the ED, cyber cell or police department or High Court asking to transfer money in any particular account for the purpose of investigation or inquiry.

“No law enforcement agency calls you and asks you to transfer money. Always properly verify the credentials before sending money to the person,” a cyber police officer said.