The cybercrime unit attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police claim to have busted a gang which cheated people under the pretext of helping them renew or surrender their insurance policies. Three cyber fraudsters including the kingpin who has been identified as-Salim Akbar Siddique (24)- a resident of Dahisar and his accomplices-Chand Vakil Ahmed (26) and Mohd. Aftab Shaikh (22) – both staying in the Malwani area of Malad have been arrested for their involvement in the crime.
Action after complaint by a Mira road resident
Acting on a tip-off a team from the cybercrime unit led by Police Inspector- Sujitkumar Gunjkar swooped down on an apartment located on the 15th floor of D.B. Ozone in the Ketkipada area of Dahisar (east) and arrested the trio on Wednesday evening. The action followed in response to a complaint registered by a Mira Road resident who lost ₹ 33,000 to the evil designs of the cybercriminal.
Used QR codes to dupe people
Throwing light on the background and their modus operandi, DCP (Crime)- Avinash Ambure said, “All three accused who are former employees of call centres, which worked for insurance companies, apparently gathered the database of customer information and called up policy holders in pseudo names from mobile phones and offered to renew, update and surrender their policies. They later sent Quick Response (QR) code for scanning to the policyholders for making payments towards premiums, but transferred the money to their own digital wallet accounts and withdrew cash from ATM’s.”
The police recovered a laptop, 10 mobile phones, 10 debit cards, 3 aadhar cards, cheque book, passbook and other incriminating pieces of evidence from the possession of the accused. | Suresh Golani
Over 40 people duped to the tune of ₹ 11 lakh
The trio who have so far duped more than 40 policy holders to the tune of ₹ 11 lakh also sent bogus insurance policy certificates to the accused in pdf format. The police recovered a laptop, 10 mobile phones, 10 debit cards, 3 aadhar cards, cheque book, passbook and other incriminating pieces of evidence from the possession of the accused who have been booked under the relevant sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act. The trio have been remanded to custody till 16, January after they were produced before the district sessions court on Thursday. Further investigations were in.
