A senior citizen from Andheri lost Rs 5 lakh to an email phishing fraud and a case has been registered by the police in matter. According to the reports, the fraudster posed as Rula Ghani, the wife of Afghanistan's ex-president Ashraf Ghani.
A report in the Indian Express stated that the senior citizen (71) who was an accountant was approached by the fraudster under the pretext of seeking his help in making huge investments in Indian market and defrauded him of lakhs.
Fraudster posing as Rula Ghani sought help in investment
Reportedly, the accountant first received a mail from fraudster identifying themselves as Rula Ghani on February 18. They sought complainant's help in investing money on her behalf in India. The fraudster had also sent a copy of passport, recent photo and receipt of $22 million which is equivalent to over a Rs 150 crore.
The con told complainant that he will get the money in his bank account sson and that his commission will be 25%. The complainant accepted the offer, police were cited saying.
The fraudster had told the complainant that he would get a call from one Alto Belli, who is the executive manager of Permata Bank based in Jakarta, Indonesia for assistance.
Bank 'executive manager' siphoned off Rs 5 lakh
The 'executive manager' called him on February 28 on WhatsApp who under the pretext of getting him to open an account in their bank attained the accountant's documents and also demanded a fee of around Rs 30,000.
Using the money transfer as guise, Belli made the man pay lakhs. Even after shelling the money, when the transaction had not happened, he approached her again.
Reportedly, Belli had told him that money transfer was not processed because of technical issue and said the entire amount will be sent to his residence in cash. The cash transfer was reportedly going to happen via a diplomat.
Subsequently, an African national turned at his door on April 4 and handed him a bag and directed him to open the lock only after transferring Rs 3.20 lakh fee to Belli.
Cops suspect Nigrain fraudsters' involvement
After his departure, when the complainant and his family checked the bag, they just found bundles of papers. It dawned on him that he had been defrauded and later filed a complaint with police.
The police officer was quoted as saying that the phishing was handiwork of Nigerian fraudsters and that they are trying to track them using details available.
Mumbai Cyber Safe
According to Cyber Crime Cell under Crime Branch of mumbai police , the most common form of online frauds are related to banks, online commerce platforms where fraudsters, posing as bank /platform officials, convince the victim to share OTP, KYC updates and sometimes send the links to be clicked to access bank accounts.“People should know that no bank or institution is authorised to demand for bank details or PIN numbers. Unfortunately, educated people are falling prey to online frauds and losing lakhs of rupees,” explained DCP Cyber Crime , Balsingh Rajput
Online Banking Fraud |
