Mumbai: Railway official loses 9 lakhs online to scammers posing as ‘CBI’ officers
The victim was accused of money laundering and was put on video call to be tried by a scamster posing as a ‘judge’.
A railway official from Mumbai lost ₹9 lakh to cyber fraudsters posing as CBI officers who said that the official was linked to a bank account used to launder large amounts of money.
The official was produced before a fraudster posing as a ‘judge’ who asked him to deposit money into a specific bank account as 'penalty' for the offence, news agency PTI reported.
The victim is a 59-year-old Principal Chief Electrical Engineer (Construction) at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai and lives in Colaba in South Mumbai.
Police said the incident happened on Monday when the official received a voice message threatening to block his mobile number within two hours and was asked to dial 0 for further queries. “Accordingly, the victim pressed '0', following which a video call got activated. The caller introduced himself as a CBI officer and said he wanted to investigate the railway official in a money laundering case as his mobile number was linked to one bank account which was used in the scam,” a police official told PTI.
The victim informed the scamsters that he does not own a second mobile number. But the scamsters made the official believe that a mobile number was registered in his name and was liked to a bank account used for laundering ₹58 lakh.
The victim continued to be on video call and went to office for work, but he was asked to return home as scamsters claimed that ‘CBI officers’ wanted to 'investigate' him in the case. The official retuned home and a video call was activated again around 2 pm on Monday.
"During this time, the fraudsters obtained all the details about the railway official's family background, his finance and property details from him. The accused then told him that he would be produced before the court online and the judge will decide the matter," the police official added.
The call remained active for around 20 hours till 9.30 am on Tuesday during which the ‘judge’ told the victim that the ‘CBI’ has found some unauthorized bank transactions from his second account. As penalty for the offence, the official was asked to deposit ₹9 lakh into an account provided by the scamsters.
The victim transferred the money via RTGS, only to realize that he was duped. The transaction was completed despite the official contacting the bank manager to stop transfer. “He lodged a complaint at the Colaba police station, based on which a case of cyber fraud was registered,” the official said, adding that a probe was underway.