Cybercrooks cheat 3 of Rs41L by threatning arrest

Pune: Three people collectively lost Rs 41 lakh to cybercrooks, who threatened the victims that their bank accounts had been used in money laundering.The victims – a senior creative consultant, a private firm employee from Wakad and a senior citizen from Vimannagar – registered complaints with the Kondhwa, Wakad and Airport police, respectively on Thursday.An officer from the Airport police said the complainant is a 64-year-old journalist in the Vimannagar case. On Aug 6, he received a call from a woman claiming to an official from the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) and informed the victim that the authority would disconnect his cellphone number linked to his Aadhaar, the officer said.The woman also told the victim that crooks had misused his Aadhaar to procure another cellphone and that cellphone was being used for money laundering. The TRAI, she claimed, had received 22 complaints against victim's cellphone number, the officer said."The victim was then connected to an ‘IPS officer' who shared an FIR copy with the elderly man and told him that the police had recovered 27 debit cards from a businessman involved in the money laundering case. One of these cards was linked with the victim's Aadhaar details," the officer said.He added that the victim was then connected to a CBI officer through a video call. A woman, who posed as the CBI officer, assured the victim help and instructed him to transfer his bank balance to a bank account for verification purposes, promising to return the amount within a week. "Believing her, the victim transferred Rs 11 lakh to the bank account number provided to him on Aug 7 and lost it to the crooks," the investigating officer said.Similarly, the 28-year-old senior creative consultant stated in her complaint with the Kondhwa police that on Aug 13, she received a call from a man who posed as a police constable of the Andheri police. An officer from the Kondhwa police said, the caller told her that investigators had found 30 bank accounts in her name through which money laundering of Rs 25 lakh was done. "To avoid arrest, the crooks took Rs 10 lakh from her and duped her," the officer said.In the Wakad case, a 30-year-old woman on lost Rs 20 lakh to the crooks on Sept 10 when the crooks put her in fear that her bank account was used for money laundering and that a case was registered against her. "To cooperate with the woman, the crooks took money from her and promised to return it immediately. As soon as the woman transferred the money, the crooks stopped contacting her," the officer said.