『India,भारत,印度』 10 Scam News, organised crime, cyber fraud, criminal gangs, international criminal syndicates, online scammer, Job fraud, online fraud, finanancial frauds, Financial Fraud, human trafficking, pig butchering, romance scams 2024.6.10-6.23

Pvt firm top offical loses 2cr in share trade scam

Thane: A 52-year-old man lost Rs 2 crore to cyber cheats in a fake stock market scam. The victim, who lives in Hiranandani Estate in Ghodbunder and works as a general manager at a private company.

Around a month back, the complainant came across a link on his Facebook account about investing in the stock market promising handsome returns on the investment.

Upon clicking the link, he was added to a WhatsApp group where investment information was shared by the cyber cheats.

“Lured by the prospects, the complainant expressed his willingness to invest. He was subsequently sent a link and joined WhatsApp, where he was instructed to install an app on his mobile phone,” said a police officer.

The complainant invested nearly Rs 80.80 lakh in various stocks through a sham application that they shared. “After investing the amount, the application showed him that his profit was Rs 7.59 crore on his investment of Rs 80.80 lakh,” said a police officer.

When the complainant attempted to withdraw this amount, he was told by the cyber cheats that he will have to pay a 20 percent fee which he denied and asked them to return his money. Despite repeated requests, he could not get back his amount.

But on the same day, he clicked on another similar link and was added to another WhatsApp group. Here also he invested another Rs 1.20 crore in a similar manner through another sham app. Despite repeated attempts to withdraw his money, he neither received the promised returns nor his principal amount, said a police officer.

Realizing he had been scammed, the complainant lodged a complaint with the Kasarvadavali police station under various sections of the Information Technology Act.

The police said that they have launched the probe into the scam and technical analysis into the case has been initiated.

In a similar incident, a 70-year-old man was swindled of Rs 2 crore by online scamsters in an investment stock scam. The police said that the complainant is the resident of Kolshet and it was last week he alleged that he was added to a WhatsApp group by an unknown number. The group purportedly was on share market trading and claimed to hone their investment skills for substantial returns.

The incident occurred last week when the complainant was added to a WhatsApp group by an unknown number, claiming to provide share market trading tips and investment opportunities for substantial returns.

“This is the common modus operandi that the online scamsters are using to cheat their targets. Here also, the victim trusted the group, believing their assurances and the convincing performance of the sham website, which falsely showed higher returns,” said a police officer.

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塔纳：一名 52 岁的男子在一次虚假的股票市场骗局中被网络骗子骗走 2 千万卢比。受害者住在 Ghodbunder 的 Hiranandani Estate，是一家私人公司的总经理。大约一个月前，投诉人在他的 Facebook 帐户上看到了一个关于投资股票市场的链接，承诺投资回报丰厚。

点击链接后，他被添加到WhatsApp 群组，网络骗子在该群组中分享投资信息。

“在前景的诱惑下，投诉人表示愿意投资。随后，他收到了一个链接并加入了 WhatsApp，并被指示在手机上安装一个应用程序，”一名警官说。

投诉人通过他们共享的虚假应用程序投资了近 808 万卢比购买各种股票。一名警官说：“投资后，应用程序显示他的 808 万卢比投资获利 7.59 千万卢比。”

当投诉人试图提取这笔钱时，网络骗子告诉他必须支付 20% 的费用，他拒绝了，并要求他们退还他的钱。尽管他一再要求，但他无法取回他的钱。

但就在同一天，他点击了另一个类似的链接，并被添加到另一个 WhatsApp 群组。他还通过另一个虚假应用程序以类似的方式投资了 1.2 千万卢比。一名警官说，尽管他多次试图提取资金，但他既没有收到承诺的回报，也没有拿到本金。

意识到自己被骗后，申诉人根据《信息技术法》的各项规定向 Kasarvadavali 警察局报案。

警方表示，他们已对这起骗局展开调查，并已对案件展开技术分析。

在类似事件中，一名 70 岁的男子在一次投资股票骗局中被网络骗子骗走 2 千万卢比。警方称，申诉人是 Kolshet 的居民，他声称上周被一个未知号码添加到 WhatsApp 群组。该群组据称在进行股票交易，并声称要磨练他们的投资技能以获得可观的回报。

事件发生于上周，当时一名不知名的号码将投诉人添加到 WhatsApp 群组，声称提供股票市场交易技巧和可获得丰厚回报的投资机会。

“这是网络骗子用来欺骗目标的常见手法。受害者也信任该群组，相信他们的保证和虚假网站令人信服的表现，虚假网站虚假显示更高的回报，”一名警官说。

Delhi police arrests six individuals for fraudulent activities pretending to be FedEx agents
The accused, arrested from various states across the country, were found in possession of incriminating evidence implicating them in the scam. Delhi Police confirmed the recovery of ₹38 lakhs in cash, along with five mobile phones, a chequebook, debit cards, and crucial company documents belonging to a shell company used to facilitate the fraudulent operations.

The Delhi Police has apprehended six individuals across different states for their involvement in a scam operation using the guise of FedEx services. The arrests come after a thorough investigation into a series of complaints filed on the NCRP Portal, highlighting fraudulent activities under the pretence of the logistics company.

The accused, arrested from various states across the country, were found in possession of incriminating evidence implicating them in the scam. Delhi Police confirmed the recovery of ₹38 lakhs in cash, along with five mobile phones, a chequebook, debit cards, and crucial company documents belonging to a shell company used to facilitate the fraudulent operations.

The operation, masterminded through a fictitious company posing as FedEx, targeted unsuspecting victims through elaborate schemes, promising delivery services and parcels that were never intended to reach their destinations. The scam affected a substantial number of individuals, with a total of 72 complaints lodged on the NCRP Portal, all of which have now been resolved following the arrests.

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德里警方逮捕六名冒充联邦快递代理进行欺诈活动的嫌疑人

被捕的嫌疑人来自印度全国各地，警方发现他们持有与诈骗案有关的罪证。德里警方证实，他们缴获了 380 万卢比现金、五部手机、一本支票簿、借记卡以及一家空壳公司用于协助诈骗行动的重要公司文件。

印度德里警方在不同州逮捕了六名涉嫌以联邦快递服务为幌子实施诈骗的嫌疑人。警方在对 NCRP 门户网站上的一系列投诉进行彻底调查后逮捕了他们，这些投诉揭露了以这家物流公司为幌子的欺诈活动。

Beware: Govt warns against a fake India Post scam, hundreds of users receive scam message
A fraudulent SMS message, purportedly from India Post, is making rounds with scammers targeting unsuspecting users. The deceptive message claims to inform users that their package has arrived at a warehouse and urgently requires address updates to avoid the package being returned.

In Short
A fraudulent SMS message, purportedly from India Post, is making rounds
Hundreds of users who have been impacted by this scam have reported on X
The fake SMS includes a random link that users are advised not to open

A fraudulent SMS message, purportedly from India Post, is making rounds with scammers targeting unsuspecting users. The deceptive message claims to inform users that their package has arrived at a warehouse and urgently requires address updates to avoid the package being returned. The fake message also includes a link which users are advised not to open as they could lose money. Hundreds of users who have been impacted by this scam have reported on X (formerly Twitter).

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) Fact Check, a reliable government authority, has debunked this message as a scam. They took to social media to alert the public, emphasising that India Post never sends such messages asking for address updates for package deliveries.

“Have you also received an SMS from @IndiaPostOffice stating that your package has arrived at the warehouse, further asking you to update your address details within 48 hours to avoid the package being returned? #PIBFactCheck Beware! This message is #fake,” reads the post shared by PIB Fact Check on X.

What does the fake SMS include?

The text message typically reads: “Your package has arrived at the warehouse and we attempted delivery twice but were unable to due to incomplete address information. Please update your address within 48 hours, otherwise the package will be returned. In order to update the address click on the link [indisposegvs.top/IN]. After the update is complete, the package will be re-delivered within 24 hours.”

This message exploits the trust users place in postal services and attempts to lure them into providing personal information by clicking on a malicious link. Such scams are designed to steal sensitive data or install harmful software on the user’s device.

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警惕：政府警告警惕虚假印度邮政诈骗，数百名用户收到诈骗信息

一条据称来自印度邮政的欺诈性短信正在被骗子广泛传播，他们瞄准毫无戒心的用户。这条欺骗性短信声称会通知用户他们的包裹已到达仓库，并紧急要求更新地址，以避免包裹被退回。这条虚假信息还包含一个链接，建议用户不要打开该链接，因为可能会损失金钱。数百名受到此骗局影响的用户已在 X（原 Twitter）上报告了此事。

印度新闻信息局 (PIB) 事实核查部门是一家可靠的政府机构，他们已揭穿这条消息是骗局。他们通过社交媒体提醒公众，强调印度邮政绝不会发送此类要求更新包裹寄送地址的消息。

短信内容一般是：“您的包裹已到达仓库，我们尝试送货两次，但由于地址信息不完整而未能成功。请在 48 小时内更新您的地址，否则包裹将被退回。要更新地址，请点击链接。更新完成后，包裹将在 24 小时内重新发货。”

此消息利用了用户对邮政服务的信任，并试图通过点击恶意链接诱骗他们提供个人信息。此类诈骗的目的是窃取敏感数据或在用户的设备上安装有害软件。

Gr Noida man duped of Rs 20.54 lakh in ‘work-from-home hotel rating’ scam
The police said they have registered an FIR against an unidentified accused and launched investigation into the case, which took place in January this year but reported to them only on Monday.

Noida: A Greater Noida resident has allegedly fallen victim to a cyber fraud that cost him Rs 20.54 lakh after he was lured into the scam through a text message offering a work-from-home job, which involved rating hotels on Google Maps for monetary rewards.

The police said they have registered an FIR against an unidentified accused and launched investigation into the case, which took place in January this year but reported to them only on Monday.

In his complaint to the police, Sandeep Kumar, who lives in Chi-1 sector of Greater Noida, said, “I received the text on his WhatsApp number that I can do a work-from-home job in which I need to rate hotels on Google Maps and I will receive money in return as rewards.”

He was then added to a Telegram group with about 100 members, where he started performing the rating tasks. As he continued, the tasks soon included investment activities, according to the FIR.

“I started rating the hotels etc. With these tasks, there were some investment tasks too where I invested Rs 50,000 first, but I couldn’t withdraw the money from the website,” Kumar said, adding that when attempted to withdraw his money, he was asked to pay an additional Rs 5 lakh as tax.

Realising he had been defrauded, Kumar found himself unable to access the Rs 20,54,464 he had invested, he claimed.

“They asked me to pay Rs 5 lakh more as tax to their account, where I got to know that I have been a victim of financial fraud. I am not able to withdraw my approximately Rs 20,54,464 invested money,” Kumar stated.

In addition to the financial loss, Kumar alleged he has been receiving “death threats” from the fraudsters via Telegram and phone calls.

“I am getting death threats from these people on Telegram as well as on calls to defreeze the accounts,” he added.

A police official said an FIR was registered at the Cyber Crime police station in Noida Sector 36 and the matter is under investigation.

“The FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation), and provisions of the Information Technology Act,” the local police official added.

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诺伊达：据称，大诺伊达的一名居民遭遇了一场网络诈骗，损失 205.4 万卢比。诈骗人员通过一条短信诱骗他参与此次诈骗，短信中提供了一份在家办公的工作，工作内容是在谷歌地图上对酒店进行评级以获得金钱奖励。

A major PAN card misuse scam likely unfolding across India; many cases already reported

Synopsis
PAN numbers of deceased people, illiterate people, people who do not frequently use the number, etc., are being misused to carry out property transactions. The cases only come to light after I-T department notices.

A major PAN card misuse scam is likely unfolding across the country, ToI reported on June 18. Quite a few cases of the scam have already been reported from various places, the report said.

According to the report (by Lubna Kably), a senior citizen and homemaker from Mumbai had to escalate her case to the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) due to alleged misuse of her PAN. A tax officer claimed she had sold a property worth Rs 1.3 crore in 2010-11, treating it as her income. Being illiterate and a cancer patient, she could not respond to the I-T notices. At a recent ITAT hearing, her counsel argued that her PAN had been misused in the property registration. The tribunal observed that the tax officer had not conducted an independent investigation, such as obtaining details from the property registrar and the buyer. Consequently, it ordered the I-T department to gather complete information from the registrar and ensure the woman receives a fair hearing.

This incident is not unique. Across India, there have been multiple reports of PAN misuse. For instance, Usha Soni from Betul, Madhya Pradesh, received an I-T notice for Rs 7.5 crore a decade after her death. Similarly, Nand Lal, a small shopkeeper in Rajasthan, filed a police complaint after receiving an I-T notice for Rs 12.2 crore. Fraudsters often target vulnerable groups such as the deceased, senior citizens, farmers, and students.

The ToI report quoted Ketan Vajani, chartered accountant, as saying, “Misuse of the PAN by unscrupulous elements can cause lots of difficulties, including huge demands being raised on an individual due to additions to his/her income during assessment for transactions that do not pertain to the PAN holder. While the highest secrecy must be maintained of one’s PAN, the reality is that details are freely shared for various purposes.”

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) told the newspaper in a mailed response that “individuals should restrain from sharing their PAN information/PAN card where it is not mandated by the government’s guidelines or is in public domain.

“The PAN database at present is more than 70 crores. Linking with Aadhaar was brought in largely to prevent/stop misuse of PAN. However, if there are cases of suspected misuse of PAN, it is advised that a complaint may be filed with the police,” it added.
Ameet Patel, tax partner at Manohar Chowdhry & Associates, said in view of the ITAT order: “The issue of the I-T department relying completely on information filed by various agencies and initiating action against the taxpayers is a serious issue and needs a lot of rethinking by the department. It has now come to a stage that every taxpayer has to necessarily check his/her annual information statement (AIS) every few weeks.”

The Annual Information Statement (AIS) provides comprehensive data from reporting entities like banks and property registrars. This includes details on bank interest, dividends, and transactions related to the purchase and sale of securities or immovable properties.

According to Patel, as soon as a wrong entry is found the AIS, feedback in the AIS system should be provided immediately and the mistake pointed out. If the mistake is not rectified, the need to file an FIR with police arises, he further said.

Vajani told ToI that a police complaint could also act as a shield if, during assessment, additions are made for transactions that do not belong to the PAN holder.

“It would be a taxpayer friendly move for the I-T department to provide a tab on its website to report any misuse,” he added.

The CBDT explained that when a reporting entity confirms a transaction, the I-T department cannot take action unless the PAN holder reports the issue to the police and it is investigated. Additionally, a PAN is not deactivated upon the holder’s death to allow the I-T department to initiate or complete any pending proceedings. Family members or legal heirs must inform the jurisdictional assessing officer of the death (details available on the e-portal) and provide copies of the PAN card and death certificate. The officer will then mark the death against the PAN.

According to Patel, the system has scope for an obvious improvement: Whenever a death certificate is issued, an automatic intimation should go to I-T department, following which that particular PAN number can be marked as having belonged to a dead person, which would make it easy to stop any big future transactions against that number.

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印度各地可能正在上演大规模 PAN 卡滥用骗局；多起案件已上报
已故人员、文盲、不经常使用该号码的人等的 PAN 号码被滥用来进行财产交易。这些案件都是在 IT 部门注意到后才被曝光的。

Sr citizen gets call from ‘cops’, is duped of Rs 5 lakh in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A 63-year-old woman residing at Grant Road was cheated of Rs 5 lakh in a parcel scam last month by a cyber fraudster who used fake ID cards of senior officials of Mumbai police.

The woman first got a threaten call on May 13 and another one earlier this month. She reported the incident at Gamdevi police station. She received an automated voice message on her phone, saying ‘Your parcel for Iran has been undelivered for more information please click 1.’

An officer from Gamdevi police station said that the woman was told that her name was involved in a case of money laundering and drugs, and that her Aadhaar card information had been used in the crime.

The woman told TOI: “The fraudster threatened that they had my Aadhar Card details. They also made me show them my house on Skype after the two fake cops, who had concealed their faces while on the Skype call, made me give details of my bank statement for the last six months,”

The fraudsters also intimidated her by claiming there was a money laundering investigation involving her account and a politician named Nawab Mallick.

She has lodged a complaint on the National Cyber Crime helpline (number 1930), which has managed to freeze Rs 50,000 out of the total amount she lost.

The woman has mentioned that the money, Rs 4.99 lakh, had been given to her by a friend to deposit into her bank account as part of her preparations to apply for a UK tourist visa. “I am clueless now from where I will manage to arrange the money to return to my friend…”.

The senior citizen also noticed that the fraudsters had erased the call history on Skype. “When I visited Sahar police station, they told me that there are such senior cops in Mumbai police, but the identities were fake. I found out that the money that I transferred got credited to a bank account in Bhidar, Karnataka,” she said.

These counterfeit identity cards that were used by the fraudsters depicted former joint commissioner Milind Bharambe as deputy commissioner of Cyber Crime Mumbai and senior superintendent of police of Punjab Police Amneet Kondal as a cyber police inspector.

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格兰特路一名 63 岁妇女在包裹诈骗中被一名冒充孟买高级警察的网络诈骗犯骗走 50 万卢比。诈骗犯使用假身份证恐吓该妇女并窃取其个人和财务信息。

孟买：上个月，一名居住在格兰特路的 63 岁妇女在一次包裹诈骗中被一名使用孟买警方高级官员假身份证的网络诈骗者骗走了 50 万卢比。

这名妇女于 5 月 13 日第一次接到威胁电话，本月早些时候又接到了另一通。她向Gamdevi 警察局报案。 Gamdevi 警察局的一名警官说，这名妇女被告知她的名字涉及洗钱和毒品案，她的 Aadhaar 卡信息被用于犯罪。这名妇女告诉《印度时报》：“诈骗者威胁说他们有我的 Aadhar 卡信息。他们还让我在 Skype 上向他们展示我的房子，两名假警察在 Skype 通话时隐藏了他们的脸，并要求我提供过去六个月的银行对账单信息，”

诈骗者还恐吓她，声称正在调查她的账户和一位名叫纳瓦布·马利克 (Nawab Mallick) 的政客的洗钱行为。

这位老人还注意到，诈骗者删除了 Skype 上的通话记录。“当我去 Sahar 警察局时，他们告诉我，孟买警察局有这样的高级警察，但身份是假的。我发现我转账的钱被记入了卡纳塔克邦 Bhidar 的一个银行账户，”她说。

诈骗者使用的这些伪造身份证将前联合专员 Milind Bharambe 描绘成孟买网络犯罪副专员，将旁遮普省警察局高级警司 Amneet Kondal 描绘成网络警察督察。

Man from Rajasthan arrested in Chennai for swindling money online while pretending to be Mumbai police officer
Police said the 23-year-old had called a Chennai resident, accusing him of trafficking drugs through a courier service, and had then swindled ₹15.26 lakh from him

The Greater Chennai City Police on Saturday arrested a 23-year-old young man who was part of a gang that stole money from people, by pretending to be Mumbai police personnel who were conducting an inquiry into the trafficking of drugs through courier services.

Police said S. Ashok Ranjith, 39, a resident of Kilpauk was contacted by an unknown person over his mobile phone on March 17. The caller claimed that he was from the FedEx courier firm’s Mumbai branch, and a parcel that contained contraband was being sent under the name Ashok Ranjith, from Mumbai to Taiwan. The caller said Ashok Ranjith would be interrogated by Mumbai Police. The phone was then passed on to another person, who claimed to be from the Mumbai police. He accused Mr. Ranjith of trafficking drugs and said he would be arrested.

Later, the same person contacted Mr. Ranjith via a Skype call and told him that to transfer a sum of money to an account. The caller said he would send these details to the Reserve Bank of India for verification. If it was proved that the money belonged to Mr. Ranjith legally, they would return it, he claimed.

Mr. Ashok Ranjith sent a total of ₹15.26 lakh in two installments to the said bank account. Later, when he went to his bank and made enquiries, Mr. Ranjith realised that he had been conned by fraudsters. He lodged a complaint at the East Zone Cyber Crime Police Station of Greater Chennai City Police. After analysing the mobile phone number, bank account, IP address and network ID used by the suspect, the police managed to track him down and identified him as K. Vishal Kumar of Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Kumar was arrested in Jaipur and remanded to judicial custody after being produced in a city court in Chennai.

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拉贾斯坦邦男子因冒充孟买警察在网上诈骗钱财在钦奈被捕

警方称，这名 23 岁的男子打电话给一名钦奈居民，指控他通过快递服务贩卖毒品，然后从他那里骗取了 152.6 万卢比

7 Held In ‘Dating Scam’ That Duped 50-60 People Of ₹ 30 Lakh
One member of the gang used to chat with the customers posing as a woman on the dating apps, and called the customers to the pub.

Hyderabad: Seven persons were apprehended from Maharashtra in connection with a “dating scam” in which 50-60 people were duped of lakhs of rupees by some young women who were working with pub owners and other persons who organised the racket.

Police on Wednesday said that women lured men to a pub here and allegedly made them pay hefty bills after ordering expensive liquor and food, and that the bill amount was shared by the pub owners and the group.

The accused, who were apprehended at Nagpur, recruited women and allegedly attracted the customers through online dating apps and called their victims to the pub in Madhapur here, they said.

One member of the gang used to chat with the customers posing as a woman on the dating apps, and called the customers to the pub where they, along with other women, made the victims order expensive food and beverages, police said.

After the women allegedly forced the customers to drink the expensive liquor in the pub, the accused duped them by charging a huge amount of money in the form of bills, police said, adding that the bill amount was then shared among the accused, the pub owner, the organisers and the women.

The accused who have a night club at Delhi had repeated this modus operandi in Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Madhapur Zone) Vineeth G said.

They used to select pubs that were running in losses and having very poor ratings online.

With regard to the pub in Hyderabad, the accused operated for 45 days, especially on weekends and they duped 50-60 customers to the tune of ₹ 30 lakh and shared the bill amount among themselves, the pub owner and the women, police said.

Police had last week registered a case over the “dating scam”. Further investigations are on.

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7 人涉嫌“约会骗局”，骗取 50-60 人₹ 30 十万
该团伙的一名成员曾在约会应用程序上假扮女性与顾客聊天，并把顾客叫到酒吧。

马哈拉施特拉邦逮捕了七名涉嫌“约会骗局”的嫌疑人，在该骗局中，一些年轻女子与酒吧老板和其他组织者合作，骗取了 50 至 60 人数十万卢比。
警方周三称，一些女子引诱男子到当地的一家酒吧，并要求他们点昂贵的酒和食物，然后支付高额账单，而账单金额由酒吧老板和该团伙分摊。

据称，嫌疑人在纳格浦尔被捕，他们招募女性，并涉嫌通过在线约会应用程序吸引顾客，然后把受害者叫到马达普尔的酒吧。

警方称，该团伙的一名成员曾在约会应用程序上假扮女性与顾客聊天，然后将顾客叫到酒吧，与其他女性一起让受害者点昂贵的食物和饮料。

警方称，据称，在这些女子强迫酒吧里的顾客喝下昂贵的酒之后，被告以账单的形式欺骗她们，并补充说，账单金额随后由被告、酒吧老板、组织者和这些女子分摊。

警察局副局长（马达普尔区）维尼思·G 表示，嫌疑人在德里拥有一家夜总会，并在德里、班加罗尔和海得拉巴重复了这种作案手法。

他们过去常常选择那些亏损并且在线评分很差的酒吧。

Fraudsters impersonating police officers deceive PhD student in IIT Mumbai campus

MUMBAI: A 30-year-old PhD student living on the IIT campus was deceived by individuals pretending to be police officers. She transferred Rs4.2 lakhs, including Rs1 lakh after breaking her Fixed Deposit certificate, to the fraudsters’ account. The scammers falsely claimed to be officers from a nonexistent ‘Fort police station’ in Mumbai and threatened to file an FIR against her.

The fraudsters accused the student, S. Yadav, of being involved in illegal money transactions and money laundering through her bank account. According to Powai police, “Yadav realised that she was duped after she discussed the same with people known to her. We have sought details of the accounts that the fraudster has used to make Yadav transfer the money. Meanwhile, the nodal officer of the bank has been asked to block the accounts. The fraudster impersonated as cop and threatened her after making her come on Skype to talk with them,” a police officer from Powai police station elaborated.

Yadav fell victim to the scam on June 5, after receiving a call from a man claiming to be a cop named Sandeep from the Fort police station in Mumbai. In her complaint, Yadav recounted, “I was informed by the caller, who claimed to be a cop, that my number has been used in the fraud and a case has been registered against me. I was asked to visit the police station for an inquiry in a money laundering case as they have noticed illegal money transactions being carried out from my bank account.”

She continued, “I was first asked to download Skype and two persons appeared on the video call dressed in uniform. They threatened and later told me that they would not register FIR. Instead, they asked me to transfer Rs4.2 lakhs to an account to verify the banking details.”

Yadav initially transferred Rs3.2 lakhs, fearing the threat of a frozen bank account. “When Yadav again received another call from the fraudster threatening not transferring the complete Rs4.2 lakhs. This made her to break her FD and transfer another Rs1 lakh. They assured her that the money would be returned after a probe and verification from the RBI,” a police officer stated.

The matter remains under investigation as the police is working to track the accounts used by the fraudsters and have requested the bank’s nodal officer to block these accounts.Share to Twitter

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诈骗分子冒充警察，欺骗印度理工学院孟买分校的博士生

孟买：住在印度理工学院 (IIT) 校园的一名 30 岁博士生被冒充警察的人欺骗。她将 42 万卢比（包括取出定期存款的 10 万卢比）转入诈骗者的账户。诈骗者谎称自己是孟买一个不存在的“堡垒警察局”的警官，并威胁要对她提起 FIR。

诈骗者指控学生 S. Yadav通过她的银行账户参与非法资金交易和洗钱。Powai 警方称，“Yadav 在与认识的人讨论此事后意识到自己被骗了。我们已经要求了解诈骗者用来让 Yadav 转账的账户的详细信息。同时，银行的负责人已被要求封锁这些账户。诈骗者冒充警察，并让她通过 Skype 与他们交谈后威胁她，” Powai 警察局的一名警官详细说明道。

6 月 5 日，Yadav接到一名自称是孟买 Fort 警察局警察的男子打来的电话，这名男子名叫桑迪普 (Sandeep)，自称是警察。Yadav在投诉中回忆道：“打电话的人自称是警察，他告诉我，我的号码被用于诈骗，并已对我立案。他们要求我去警察局调查洗钱案，因为他们注意到有人从我的银行账户进行非法资金交易。”

她继续说：“他们先是要求我下载 Skype，然后视频通话中出现了两个穿着制服的人。他们威胁我，后来又告诉我，他们不会立案。相反，他们要求我将 42 万卢比转入一个账户，以核实银行信息。”

亚达夫最初转账了 32 万卢比，因为担心银行账户被冻结。“当亚达夫再次接到诈骗犯的电话，威胁不转账全部 42 万卢比时，她不得不取出定期存款，再转账 10 万卢比。他们向她保证，在印度储备银行进行调查和核实后，这笔钱会退还给她，”一名警官表示。

此事仍在调查中，警方正在努力追踪诈骗犯使用的账户，并已要求银行负责人封锁这些账户。

Pune Crime Files: How timely alert from bank helped cops unearth 3-layered cyber fraud ring with Dubai nexus
Transactions worth Rs 20 crore in just two months in 50 bank accounts triggered the police investigation which led to the arrest of 13 suspects.

A prompt tip-off from officials at a private sector bank proved pivotal, as the Pimpri Chinchwad police’s cybercrime cell recently unearthed a sophisticated cyber fraud operation.

Thirteen suspects, all in their 20s—operating across three layers and working as cyber foot soldiers by international criminals in Dubai—have been arrested in connection with a network of 50 bank accounts that saw Rs 20 crore move in just two months. These accounts served as conduits for funds pilfered by international kingpins from unsuspecting victims of online frauds.

How did the investigation begin?

A team from the Pimpri Chinchwad police cybercrime cell was investigating an online task fraud case registered at the Dehu Road police station. When the team was investigating the bank accounts linked to the frauds, the investigation team received input from the manager of a private sector bank about suspicious activity in close to three dozen accounts opened over the last two months.

As later turned out, these accounts were in the name of labourers and farmers and had seen unusual activity totalling multiple crores of rupees. As the investigation team started digging into the transactions of these accounts, they realised they were looking at ‘rented’ accounts used for receiving funds siphoned from cybercrime victims.

In the probe conducted over the last week, the investigation team unearthed the network of 50 bank accounts that were flagged in at least 16 cybercrimes registered in Maharashtra.

The three-tier operation of the racket

An officer from Pimpri Chinchwad police said, “We have made arrests from what we believe are three layers of the racket with their fourth and above layers operating from abroad, in this case, Dubai. The modus operandi of this racket is like any other cybercrime operation, more or less.”

The officer added, “In the case of this specific operation, the first layer is of the people in whose name the accounts were opened. They were receiving a fixed monthly amount or a minuscule percentage of the transactions. These people were told that their accounts were being used for gaming or share trading purposes and received large sums for letting the next layer operators handle their bank accounts. The next layer is of those who helped these people open bank accounts and maintained them.”

They also received their share of the money from the operation. The officer said the third layer connected the lower two layers to the masterminds in Dubai.

“Our investigation indicates that the money was ultimately being used to buy cryptocurrency, which was then deposited into the digital wallets of the operators based in Dubai. We have apprehended six individuals from the first layer, five from the second layer, and two, including a 23-year-old engineer, from the third layer. We hope to make more arrests from each layer,” the officer stated.

“While our probe began with a case of online task fraud, we have reasons to believe that these accounts have received money from other types of frauds, including online share trading frauds and drugs in parcel scams. A large chunk of victims of these cases are well-educated professionals.”

The investigation team consisted of Senior Inspector Vaibhav Shingare, Assistant Inspector Praveen Swami and Sub Inspectors Sagar Poman, Nitin Gaikwad and Ravindra Panhale, along with constabulary staff.

What are online task frauds?

Since January 2023, Pune citizens have reported many online tasks. In arguably the biggest such case so far with the City Police, a 69-year-old retired Colonel from the Indian Army was cheated of Rs 2.4 crore in May and June last year in an online task fraud.

In these task frauds, the victims initially receive messages offering money for performing tasks such as liking videos and giving online reviews to businesses such as hotels. They are initially paid small amounts to win their trust.

For example, Rs 100 per like to Rs 1,000 per review, etc. Later, they are told that they have been “chosen” for a “higher level” task and asked to pay a fee to receive ‘prepaid tasks’ that will get them higher amounts as returns.

For a ‘prepaid task’ for which the victims pay Rs 1,000, they get Rs 1,500 in return. The fraudsters start increasing the fee while dangling the lure of higher returns. Finally, when the promised returns fail to materialise, the victims realise they are being cheated.

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浦那案件：银行及时报警如何帮助警方揭露与迪拜有关的三层网络诈骗团伙
短短两个月内，50 个银行账户中的交易总额就达 2 亿卢比，这引发了警方的调查，并逮捕了 13 名嫌疑人。

来自一家私营银行官员的及时举报起到了至关重要的作用，皮姆普里钦奇瓦德警察局的网络犯罪部门最近发现了一起复杂的网络欺诈行动。

十三名嫌疑人全部 20 多岁，他们跨越三个层级，在迪拜充当国际犯罪分子的网络步兵。他们通过一个由 50 个银行账户组成的网络，短短两个月内就转移了 2 亿卢比。这些账户充当了国际主谋从毫无戒心的网络诈骗受害者手中窃取资金的渠道。