Cyber fraud dupes woman of ₹14.36L

MUMBAI: A 28-year-old engineer has been arrested for reportedly extorting ₹14.36 lakh from a woman, while posing as a representative of a logistics firm and a police officer.

According to the cyber police, the accused has been identified as Khushal Mali, a resident of Satpur in Nashik.

Mali on January 9 called the 40-year-old woman, while pretending to be associated with FedEx. “Mali told the victim that a parcel she had sent abroad was found containing narcotics. Even though the woman had not sent any parcel, she was convinced that her identity and bank account were used for smuggling drugs,” a police officer said.

Shortly after the call, the woman received another call from Mali, who posed as a police officer. “He told her that while investigating the ‘drugs’, he examined her bank accounts and found evidence of money laundering. Mali sent her a picture of a forged police ID card,” the officer added. Mali extorted a total of ₹14.36 lakh from the victim under various pretexts.

“It was only after she hung up the call, she suspected that she had been cheated,” the officer said. Subsequently, the police picked him up from his residence on January 10. He was remanded in police custody till Thursday, after which he was sent to judicial custody.

“We have recovered 43 SIM cards from the accused’s house. According to inquiries, he used to work with a private firm but is currently unemployed, and has been running this racket for at least six months,” Balsing Rajput, deputy commissioner of police (Cyber), said.