MUMBAI: Eighteen persons including a Taiwan national have been arrested by the Cyber Police for cheating a retired civic engineer of Rs 34.14 lakh.
Police said the Taiwan national would convert the defrauded sum into cryptocurrency. He is based abroad but had come down to India when the police intercepted him. Among the other arrested accused are employees of banks who were involved in opening bogus accounts.
The civic engineer was looking for placement post retirement. He received messages on WhatsApp and Telegram regarding part-time online jobs with e-commerce portals.
The accused induced him to download a business app and complete online tasks against which he could earn each time. He was told that investing in products of these companies would earn him huge profits. Gradually, he was asked to transfer various sums of money and was assured he was making profits. To win his trust, the accused also gave him a certificate with the logo and stamp of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) via WhatsApp. Much later, he found out the document was fake.
An FIR was registered on August 30 by the North Region Cyber Police. “During investigation, we learnt that a gang from the Mira-Bhayander belt was engaged in opening bogus bank accounts for receiving defrauded sums of money from various targets such as the retired civic engineer. They were apprehended,” said DCP Balsingh Rajput.
Police have recovered 115 Sim cards, bank passbooks, cheque books of 17 banks, ATM cards, 53 cellphones, 47 rubber stamps of various companies, besides coloured printouts of driving licences, Aadhaar cards and Pan cards. Fake documentation was being used to open bank accounts. Some of the accused were operating in Dadar and were engaged in selling bank kits. They too were arrested.
Cyber Police suspect the gang would have duped several people from across the country. Police have also appealed to citizens to report cybercrimes on the 1930 helpline.
Police said the Taiwan national would convert the defrauded sum into cryptocurrency. He is based abroad but had come down to India when the police intercepted him. Among the other arrested accused are employees of banks who were involved in opening bogus accounts.
The civic engineer was looking for placement post retirement. He received messages on WhatsApp and Telegram regarding part-time online jobs with e-commerce portals.
The accused induced him to download a business app and complete online tasks against which he could earn each time. He was told that investing in products of these companies would earn him huge profits. Gradually, he was asked to transfer various sums of money and was assured he was making profits. To win his trust, the accused also gave him a certificate with the logo and stamp of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) via WhatsApp. Much later, he found out the document was fake.
An FIR was registered on August 30 by the North Region Cyber Police. “During investigation, we learnt that a gang from the Mira-Bhayander belt was engaged in opening bogus bank accounts for receiving defrauded sums of money from various targets such as the retired civic engineer. They were apprehended,” said DCP Balsingh Rajput.
Police have recovered 115 Sim cards, bank passbooks, cheque books of 17 banks, ATM cards, 53 cellphones, 47 rubber stamps of various companies, besides coloured printouts of driving licences, Aadhaar cards and Pan cards. Fake documentation was being used to open bank accounts. Some of the accused were operating in Dadar and were engaged in selling bank kits. They too were arrested.
Cyber Police suspect the gang would have duped several people from across the country. Police have also appealed to citizens to report cybercrimes on the 1930 helpline.