Scammers pose as RBI officials, dupe elderly Faridabad couple of ₹1.8 Cr

The victims transferred funds into eight mule accounts across multiple states before realising they were being cheated.

Unidentified suspects have been booked for allegedly duping ₹1.9 crore from an elderly couple by trapping them in a cyber fraud in Faridabad, police said on Wednesday.

Police said suspects demanded additional charges like GST and taxes, prompting the victims to alert their children abroad. (File Photo)

Investigators said the victims, both in their late 70s, live in Sector 29, while their children are settled abroad. The fraud began on December 9, when the man received a call from a suspect impersonating an official of the Reserve Bank of India. The caller claimed that the couple’s bank accounts were being used for money laundering and asked them to transfer their fixed deposits and savings into select accounts for scrutiny, according to the complaint.

A senior police officer said the victim, suspecting no wrongdoing, transferred all savings from his account and his wife’s account into eight mule accounts at the suspect’s directions. “The mule accounts were with private banks in Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Patiala, Patrapara in Odisha, Bengaluru, Berhampore Khagra in West Bengal, Bharuch in Gujarat,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.

The suspects continued the fraud till December 19. “When the victim asked for his ₹1.9 crore to be returned, he was asked to pay surcharges, GST and tax. He then suspected foul play and contacted his children, who alerted him about the fraud,” the official cited above said.

The couple approached the national cybercrime helpline, following which an FIR was registered.

Yashpal Yadav, public relations officer of Faridabad police, said an FIR was lodged under section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Cyber Crime Central police station. “We have frozen up to ₹30 lakh so far. Raids are underway and arrests will be made soon,” he said.