Retired teacher loses ₹1.72 cr to cyber frauds | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: A 61-year-old retired teacher was cheated of ₹1.72 crore by cyber frauds posing as courier service agents and police officers in a scam operation that lasted more than a month.

The victim, a resident of Mahim, received a WhatsApp call, allegedly from a courier company. The caller claimed they had found the banned narcotic drug MDMA in her courier parcels and were carrying out a covert operation. They told her to stay absolutely mum, said a police officer from the Central Cyber police station.

The woman was given the phone number allegedly of a senior police officer whom she had to call. She was told her name had cropped in the Naresh Goyal case and she could be arrested, said the police officer.

The fraudsters made several video and audio calls, posing as officers from the Enforcement Directorate and Crime Branch, to scare the woman. They sought details of her property and investments, saying they would have to investigate her accounts. They told her to deposit all her savings in an “ED bank account”, said the police officer.

The victim paid ₹1.72 crore via five transactions but the accused demanded an additional ₹70 lakh as a ‘security deposit’. When she said she didn’t have any money left, they told her to mortgage her village house and land, making her suspicious. She went online and learnt about cyber fraud, and realised she had been scammed.

No arrests have been made as yet and a case has been registered for impersonating a public servant, extortion, cheating and forgery against unknown persons.