Hyderabad: A 75-year-old woman was extorted of Rs 75 lakh by a group of cybercrooks. The scammers posed as CBI officers and used forged legal documents, including a fake letter from the Supreme Court, to dupe the victim.
The scam began with a phone call from a number claiming to be from the telecom department. The caller informed the victim that her phone number was linked to an Aadhaar number that had been used to make abusive calls. Despite the victim’s denial, the scammer continued to spin a web of deceit, claiming that an FIR had been registered against her and that her mobile number would soon be deactivated.
The scammer then posed as a CBI officer and shared a letter, allegedly issued by the Deputy Governor of the RBI, stating that the authorities had permitted the victim to deposit funds for inspection.
The victim, under immense fear and anxiety, followed the scammer’s instructions and transferred ₹73,50,000 into the scammer’s account. However, when she tried to contact the scammer for an update, they stopped responding to her messages and calls.
“When the victim later tried to contact the fraudsters for an update, they stopped responding to her messages and calls. Realising she had been deceived, she understood that she had been scammed under the pretext of false allegations related to abusive calls and human trafficking, leading to the extortion,” ACP (cybercrime) R.G. Shiva Maruthi said.
The victim further stated in her complaint that the fraudster informed that a FIR had been registered against her at a police station in Bengaluru and that her mobile number would soon be deactivated.
“The fraudster mentioned that a criminal named ‘Sadath Khan’ had been arrested and that a bank account had been opened using the victim’s Aadhaar number,” ACP said. “After the victim panicked, the fraudster managed to collect financial status and falsely accused her of being the suspect in a human trafficking case,” the ACP added.
At the same time fraudsters on the other hand assured the victim that the deposited amount, along with interest, would be refunded after verification and even shared a fake receipt, supposedly issued by the Income Tax Department with an RBI stamp, the ACP further said.
The victim later realised that she had been deceived and approached the city cyber crime unit to lodge a complaint. Based on the complaint, we have formed a special team to track the server, bank accounts and to identify the fraudsters, a senior cyber crime officer said.
