Mumbai: A 67-year-old woman from Mumbai was defrauded of ₹14 lakh by online scammers who convinced her she was implicated in a money laundering case. The fraudsters posed as officials from the Delhi Telecom Department and the Cyber Crime branch, as reported by the police.
The incident occurred between September 1 and 5. Living in Kandivali West with her sister-in-law, the victim received a call from someone claiming to be from the Delhi Telecom Department, who informed her that her Aadhaar card had been misused in a money laundering case. She was then connected to another scammer impersonating a cyber crime officer named Rakesh Kumar, who displayed fake letters from the Delhi Police and warned her of possible jail time, inflicting fear in her mind. Another scamster, pretended to be officer named Shobha Sharma, instructed the victim to deposit her bank savings, mutual funs and fixed deposits into a specified bank account for supposed verification purposes.
“On Sharma’s instructions, the victim went to the bank, broke fixed deposits, mutual funds as well as savings and deposited Rs 14 lakh in the given account number through RTGS,” a police official said. The woman realized she had been deceived after discussing the situation with her son and subsequently reported the incident to the police.
She only realized she had been scammed after discussing the situation with her son and promptly reported it to the police. A case was registered at the North Region Cyber Police Station on Saturday, and an investigation is underway.
