A man has been arrested more than a month after cybercriminals cheated an 85-year-old Mumbai resident of Rs 1.27 crore by falsely claiming that the victim was involved in money laundering, police said on Saturday.
The man, identified as Parshuram Dashrath Jagtap, allegedly provided his bank account to a cyber fraud syndicate, into which the money was transferred, an official said.
The complainant, a retired employee of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, lives in the Juhu-Versova Link Road area of Andheri.
In October last year, the senior citizen received a call from a person claiming to be from the Bengaluru police. The caller accused the victim of being involved in money laundering and said that transactions worth Rs 75 lakh had been carried out in his name.
The caller also said that the case was being jointly investigated by the Delhi police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and that he could be arrested at any time. He also warned that the elderly man's family could be in trouble and that his son could lose his job.
Subsequently, a person posing as “CBI officer Daya Nayak” got in touch with the man, said the official. During a video call, the person showed him what he claimed was “an FIR” and “an arrest warrant”. He also sent forged documents to make the scam appear genuine, the official said.
The frightened victim transferred Rs 1.27 crore between December 2 and December 10 to an account provided by the callers. He was assured that the amount would be returned after completion of the investigation, the official said.
However, the callers became unreachable after the transfer of the money. A friend then told the victim to file a complaint through the cyber helpline and approach the Western Region Division of the Cyber Cell.
During the investigation, police identified Jagtap as the account holder, the official said, adding that the further probe is underway.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
