Cyber fraud: Five held for duping woman of ₹5.1 crore in Puducherry
The Cyber Crime wing of the Puducherry police arrested five persons, suspected to be key accused in a cyber fraud case, wherein ₹5.1 crore was swindled from a woman in Puducherry.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Inspector General of Police Ashok Kumar Singla said the woman complainant received a call from a mobile number recently that displayed the profile picture of her company's Managing Director.
The accused claimed that the WhatsApp number was his new contact. After gaining her trust through WhatsApp messages, he convinced the complainant that he was in an official meeting. He further claimed to be initiating a new project and directed the complainant to transfer the available funds from the business bank accounts, stressing the importance of the proposed project.
Believing his claims, the complainant transferred ₹5.1 crore to the bank accounts provided by the fraudster. After realising, she had been cheated the woman lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime police. On the direction of Senior Superintendent of Police Nara Chaitanya, a team led by Superintendent of Police S. Bascarane and Inspector B.C. Kirtty launched an investigation.
During the probe, it was found that out of the defrauded amount of ₹5.1 crore, ₹1.8 crore had been transferred to an Axis Bank account based in Kerala. The account holder was identified as Sajith, who was subsequently arrested.
Following his arrest, a special team travelled to Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and arrested four more persons, identified as Omkar Nath, Raghavendra, Shashidhar Nayak and Bavajan. Several mobile phones and internet devices used to transfer the fraudulent funds and a car was seized from the accused. Police said more people were involved in the scam and a manhunt has been launched to nab them.
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