Corporate ex-honcho loses `25cr to ‘cops’; no headway in probe
Even a fortnight after a former director of a large corporate Anisha Pargal complained to the cyber cell of Mumbai police about her being duped of as much as Rs25 crore, no headway has been made in the investigation.
In what the police admit is the biggest cyber fraud committed on a single person, the conmen posed as Mumbai police and CBI officers and induced the victim to transfer Rs25 crore into an account opened by them. The woman was deprived of her money systematically between February 6 and to April 3.
On February 6, a fraudster posing to be a police officer “Pradip Sawant” made a WhatsApp call to the victim and informed her that her Aadhaar card and two phone numbers were linked to a money laundering case. The caller then handed over the phone to a special “CBI officer” called Rajesh Mishra who threatened criminal action against her. The fake identity cards of Sawant and Mishra were sent to her on WhatsApp.
Mishra told the woman that her bank account and Aadhaar card numbers had been sold in China and Rs6.8 crore had been laundered. When she denied any involvement, Mishra told her that since she was a senior citizen, he wouldn’t call her to the police station.
The caller also said to the woman, “I think you are innocent, so I will help you.” He told the woman that an FIR had been filed against her and he was investigating the case. He sent her some pictures of ‘suspects’ for identification. She said she didn’t know any of them. Mishra instructed her not to discuss the case with anyone and said she couldn’t leave Maharashtra without his permission.
After that, Mishra sent her a letter on WhatsApp, asking her to transfer money to a ‘secret bank account.’ He also said that if she failed to send the money, she would have to pay a fine of Rs1 lakh and face three years in jail. She got scared and initially transferred Rs15.9 lakh.
On February 9, Mishra called her again and claimed that the RBI had issued instructions to freeze her bank accounts. He asked her to liquidate her mutual funds and transfer the money to his account. Then he instructed her to open a new account.
After this, Mishra asked to transfer Rs5.7 crore. She sold her shares and sent the money. Later, on his instructions, she took a gold loan and sent Rs11.5 lakh. The accused also asked the woman to create and transfer Rs70 lakh for a so-called ‘White Fund’. For this, she sold her mother’s shares.
On April 3, Mishra informed the woman that the case had been closed and she could go to the Andheri police station to get a receipt from the RBI. When she reached the police station to collect the receipt, she realised she had been deceived and subsequently filed an FIR on April 10. Police officials are investigating the case.