The North Region Cyber Police have busted an inter-state cyber fraud gang which allegedly sold fake online life insurance policies of leading companies, this committing insurance frauds, duping a number rod people of their savings and hard earned money. The police have apprehended six people from Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, wherein all the accused were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act for cheating and impersonation.
According to a senior police official, the victim was approached by the fraudsters in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic induced lockdown, between June 2020-March 2021, wherein a few people posing as representatives of insurance companies contacted him and lured him with attractive offers.
The victim fell prey to the con and bought an instance policy for his nephew and paid an amount of ₹18.98 lakh on the pretext of offering him good returns in the form of an interest free loan and a life insurance policy. When the complainant asked for the policy certificate, the accused people forged a policy document and sent it to the victim, posing as authorised representatives of IRDA in Hyderabad.
After realising that he had been duped, the victim approached the police and lodged a complaint. Acting on the complaint, a First Information Report was registered and during the probe it was revealed that the tentacles of the fraud were spread over in Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi. Investigators also learned that the accused were using fake SIM cards acquired by misusing people's KYC documents submitted with mobile card retailers.
"We learnt that the mobile company's sales executive had orchestrated the fake KYCs of SIM cards used in the crime and subsequently he was nabbed from Ghaziabad. He spilled the beans that he had activated the SIMs using other accomplices' help, who owns a mobile store. These accused people were nabbed from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
The accused, who have been identified as-- Mangal Singh aka Jaiprakash Singh, 26, Sunita Pritam Singh, 26, Jangeshwar Singh, 36, Lalit Virendra Singh, 29 and Rahul Ganpat, 30, who have similar criminal cases registered against them in Lucknow, UP and other places. Till date, the police have arrested six persons and sealed two accounts with Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank, seized at least five mobile phones and several fake SIM cards.
Cop speak--
The cyber police have appealed to the citizens to not share their privy bank details or at least cross check with the company to ascertain the authenticity of the caller. If an enquiry has to be made in connection to the life insurance policy, police have appealed the citizens to check the authentic website and not fall prey to phishing emails. If one has fallen prey to the con, police have urged them to approach the nearest police station at the earliest.
