Mumbai: The Matunga police have arrested four individuals in a cyber fraud case involving a King Circle-based senior citizen losing Rs. 5 lakhs. The accused posed as SBI bank officials to dupe the victim. While the main accused is still at large, police have identified how the siphoned money was moved to multiple bank accounts using fraudulent transactions.
This matter first surfaced in April when the complainant approached the police reporting about a cyber crime his mother experienced. The senior citizen woman had a fixed deposit in the SBI bank which was about to get matured. Since she didn’t get the matured amount back to her bank account, she tried to contact the bank by obtaining the number via Google search. Soon, she received calls from unknown numbers who introduced themselves as bank officials willing to “help her”. All this ended up in her losing all the money that she was supposed to get from her FD.
A team was formed by the senior police inspector Deepak Chavan led by PI Keshav Wagh which began the investigation. What surprised the cops was the bank accounts which were used in the crime. “We managed to trace the bank accounts and it turned out to be regular people who had no idea where their accounts were used. It mostly belonged to people in the slums in Malad's Malwani area,” explained Wagh.
The first arrest Rahul Umale, a Malvani resident who sells onions and potatoes for a living, confessed to the police that he handed over his security documents that’s needed to create a bank account to some individuals who assured them some amount in return. There began the search for other accused. Arbaaz Shaikh (23) from Kalwa near Thane, Amin Shaikh (25) and Rahim Shaikh (32) from Rabodi in Thane - were working together in this cyber crime operation.
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According to Wagh, the three accused’s work involves buying bank accounts from individuals and passing it onto others who are the actual culprits behind the cyber crime. Several accounts are being brought by the accused, while the actual owners of these bank accounts remain ignorant about the transactions that take place and the nature of these businesses. All the accused have been granted to police custody till July 12.
