Cyber criminals in Bihar dupe ex-DRDO officer of Rs 14.5 lakh
A Chhattisgarh police team from Bilaspur arrested five men from Warishliganj area in Bihar’s Nawada district Monday morning for allegedly duping a former scientific officer of DRDO of Rs 14.5 lakh through cyber fraud.
Police said the gang duped people by telling them they had won a lottery and needed to make a payment to claim the prize.
The conmen have been identified as Gautam Kumar, Sanjay Kumar Mahto, Birju Kumar Ram, Sudhansu Kumar (all from Nawada) and Niraj Kumar (Nalanda). The police seized Rs 5.23 lakh cash besides two laptop computers, 20 ATM cards, bank passbooks, two memory cards, 30 SIM cards and three motorcycles from their possession.
During initial scanning of bank passbooks, the police found transactions of over Rs 1 crore between July 7 and July 30. Bilaspur’s superintendent of police Prashant Agrawal said over the phone that two of the five men are the main culprits and others were probably relatives of the accused.
“During the investigation, the Cyber Crime team analysed the call data records (CDR), obtained bank account statements and account holder details. The team located the offenders at Nawada and apprehended them,” Agarwal added.
According to a police report, the victim identified as C L Patel, 80, was lured into depositing a huge sum of money with a call saying “Congratulations, you have won a luxury car.”
According to police officials, such victims are generally told to keep the winning secret. “No lottery can be won unless a ticket is purchased and normally the processing fees are deducted from the prize money,” officials warn.
Patel, currently residing in Sakra police station area of Bilaspur, has lodged a complaint with the concerned police station on July 30 that he had received a call from a noted automobile company informing him that he had been selected for a prize in a lucky draw due to purchase from online marketplace Flipkart. Patel said he was contacted by a person and asked to deposit processing fee, taxes and other charges in an account number to release the luxury car.
He deposited Rs 14.5 lakh in a bank account provided by the accused. The money was transferred through the branch of a nationalized bank based in Sakra. But after the money was deposited, they did not respond to his calls.
When he did not receive the car, he visited the showroom only to realise that he had been cheated.
Meanwhile, Pakribarama (in Nawada district) sub-divisional police officer Mukesh Kumar Saha said following a tip-off provided by Chhattisgarh police, a joint team carried out a raid at Warshaliganj area and arrested five suspects involved in the fraud. Ahead of their arrest, the accused had been under mobile surveillance. They were taken to Chhattisgarh on a transit remand.