Pune: Cyber frauds posing as PF officials dupe 71-year-old man of Rs 10.15 lakhs

Police said around July 2023, the complainant received a call from a woman identifying herself as Vanshika Gupta from the PF office in Delhi.

She told the complainant that his ‘group insurance’ has been pending since 2012. She then shared a mobile number with the complainant claiming that it belonged to one ‘finance officer Ravi Nayak.’ She asked the complainant to speak to Nayak, said police.

According to police, when the complainant called on the mobile number, a man identifying himself as Ravi Nayak asked him to pay money for different purposes such as RBI approval, approval from commissioner, ‘Under Transfer Memorandum Deed’ and ‘Amount Declaration from Auto Switch Amount.’

Accordingly, between July 2023 and January 2024, the complainant transferred Rs 10,15,504 into different bank accounts through multiple online transactions but he never got any insurance benefits, police said.

Police booked the unidentified accused under sections 34 (common intention), 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

Police inspector Surekha Chavan, who is investigating the case, said, “We have launched a probe into this case.”