A 53-year-old railway loco pilot has lodged a complaint with the police stating that he had been duped a gang of scammers who posed as Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and police officials falsely claimed that a case has been registered against the victim in Mumbai after 17 complaints were received for publishing pornographic content using his sim card. The scammers then on the pretext of checking the bank account transactions of the victim, induced him to transfer Rs 22 lakh in other beneficiary bank accounts.
According to the police, the victim is a resident of Bhusawal. On July 15, the victim had received an automated call from ‘TRAI’ and the victim was informed that his mobile services will be disconnected and was instructed to press 9 for further information. The victim then pressed the button after which the call was transferred to a ‘TRAI official’ who told the victim that a criminal offence had been registered against him at Tilak Nagar police station in Mumbai. The caller also told the victim that a sim card had been issued from Tilak Nagar using his Aadhar card.
Later a person claiming to be a sub-inspector from Mumbai police called the victim and informed that sensitive crimes such as publishing pornographic videos had been committed using the said sim card and 17 complaints against the victim had been received at Tilak Nagar police station. The scammer also told the victim that his bank account is being probed for an ongoing money laundering case and it is suspected that the victim had received a commission of Rs 20 lakh from the accused persons involved in the money laundering case.
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The scammer then told the victim that his bank account details will be verified to ascertain if he was involved or not and asked the victim to cooperate with him in the probe. The scammer also shared bogus Supreme Court, SEBI and Ministry of Finance documents with the victim asking him to allow them to probe his bank transactions. From July 20 till July 25, the scammers induced the victim to transfer Rs 22 lakh in four online transactions in different beneficiary bank accounts. Interestingly, later the victim came across a cyber-crime awareness video in which he learnt about a similar modus-operandi being used by scammers.
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Having realised that he had been duped, the victim approached the police and got an offence registered in the matter. A case has been registered by the police under sections 3(5) (a criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all), 318(4) (Whoever cheats and dishonestly induces the person deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to make, alter or destroy the whole or any part of a valuable security, or anything which is signed or sealed, and which is capable of being converted into a valuable security), 336 (forgery) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
