Mira Bhayandar: Granite trader loses ₹ 48 Lakh to insurance fraud

Thane: A 47-year-old granite trader from Bhayandar became the latest target of cyber criminals who, under the pretext of providing him with his insurance policy refund, duped him of nearly Rs 48 lakh within a span of three months.

The maturity value of the policy was Rs 40 lakh which exceeds the amount which the insurance holder lost to the evil designs of the cyber criminals.

Complainant had taken insurance policy in 2019

In his statement to the police, the complainant said that he had taken an insurance policy to secure his home loan in 2019, for which he regularly paid premiums for two years. However,due to the Covid-induced lockdown, his business was severely affected and he stopped making payments towards monthly premiums in 2021.

In October-2022, he received a call from a person who identified himself as the manager of the insurance company and offered to disburse Rs 1.38 lakh as an initial payment with adherence to the revised refund policy.

Victim transferred total of Rs 47,97,580 through 44 transactions to cyber criminals

Initially, the insurance holder was asked to pay Rs 12,980 and to win his trust, the criminals even sent photos of his identity card and cheque. The complainant transferred the amount to the specified bank account. However, under the guise of exceeding the refund limits, the demands went on increasing and the complainant ended up paying a total of Rs 47,97,580 through 44 transactions between 14 October 2022 to 27 January 2023.

Based on the complaint, an offence under the relevant sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act-2000 has been registered at the Navghar police station in Bhayandar against unidentified cyber criminals.

Last month, the cyber crime unit attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police busted a gang which cheated people under the pretext of helping them renew or surrender their insurance policies.