Mumbai: The Andheri police have filed a case against an unknown person for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that resulted in a 69-year-old man being defrauded of ₹3.70 lakh on Tuesday night.
The suspect allegedly used a software application to manipulate the complainant by impersonating his nephew’s voice, leading him to believe that the latter had been kidnapped.
On January 15, the complainant, a contractor residing with his wife in the JB Nagar area of Andheri, received a WhatsApp call from an unidentified number. The caller claimed to be his elder brother’s son, currently living abroad. The faux nephew informed the complainant about his imminent return to India on January 22 for business-related matters and mentioned sending ₹10 lakh to his account. The complainant was told to not reveal the conversation with anyone.
Subsequently, the complainant received another call from a different number, purportedly from his nephew again, assuring him that the funds would be credited to his account within 24 hours. Later, the nephew claimed to be kidnapped by someone named Jagmohan. Threatening harm to the nephew’s passport, the imposter coerced the complainant into depositing ₹3.70 lakh into Jagmohan’s friend Karan’s account.
After complying with the demand, the complainant contacted his nephew only to know that he was duped by some fraudster posed as his nephew.
It was then revealed that the fraudsters had ingeniously cloned the complainant’s nephew’s voice, using a concocted narrative to defraud him. Police are exploring the possibility of the culprits utilising voice-changing software or Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to execute the fraudulent scheme.
