Jun 05, 2025 06:24 AM IST
Suspecting something amiss, she used her sources in the bank to check the bank balance of the fraud and it had only ₹11 and all her money had been withdrawn
MUMBAI: A 75-year-old retired bank employee was cheated to the tune of ₹32 lakhs by cyber frauds posing as telecom company representatives and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials. She was told that her bank account was used in a money laundering case involving Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik. The Central cyber police on Sunday registered a case in the scam that took place over February.
The victim lives alone in Mahim as her children are in the United States. According to the police, she received the first call in February from someone who claimed to be an employee of a leading telecom service provider company. He read out a random mobile number, and when she said it was not her number, he warned her she should speak to police officers when they called her.
She then received a video call from one Anil Sharma, posing as a CBI official. Sharma said the agency arrested Malik and found that she took money from him as a commission using her Delhi-based bank account. “The accused used the name of the bank she worked at to intimidate her. They also sent a forged passbook in her name and a circular on money laundering,” said a police officer. They threatened her with arrest if she did not cooperate in the “ongoing high-level, confidential probe” which barred her from discussing it with anybody else. The scammers forced her to stay on video call all night and disconnected it the next day. Following this, another man, Rajveer Singh, posed as a CBI officer. “Rajveer inquired about her bank balance and fixed deposits. He told her to liquidate her fixed deposits and put all money in a savings account. They said they will speak about her case with the deputy governor of RBI,” said the police officer. Then they asked her to transfer ₹32 lakh through RTGS.
Towards the end of February, they said her name was removed from the case, the police officer added. They even sent a forged Supreme Court document to reassure her that her money will be refunded. Suspecting something amiss, she used her sources in the bank to check the bank balance of the fraud and it had only ₹11 and all her money had been withdrawn.
A case was registered against the unidentified scammers under sections 319 (cheating by personation), 318 (cheating), 336 (forgery) and 204 (personating a public servant) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and under various sections of the Information Technology Act.
