Civil engineer duped by man posing as social media influencer

Only after receiving two bank notices, she realised that the accused had taken personal loans using her bank details and salary slips.

Mumbai: A 28-year-old civil engineer working in a housing finance company was cheated of ₹2.10 lakh by a man posing as a social media influencer. The accused befriended the woman and later asked for her bank account details and copies of her salary slips, claiming one of his payments could only be deposited in a salary account, police said.

Cyber crime (ht archives)

Priyanka Sutar, a resident of Suryanagar in Vikhroli, received two payments worth ₹2.10 lakh in her salary account which she promptly transferred to the man’s bank account. Only after receiving two bank notices, she realised that the accused, identified as Sujit Kumar Manji, had taken personal loans from two different banks using her bank details and salary slips.

Yogita Gajbhiye, a friend of the complainant, was acquainted with Manji while playing the Battlegrounds Mobile India game and he told her that his name was Sujit Kesari.

“When Gajbhiye saw his profile picture on WhatsApp and enquired about it, the accused told her that he was Sehaj Zaildar, a well-known content creator and bodybuilder, and claimed to work in an ed-tech company as branch manager,” said a police officer from Vikhroli Parksite Police station, where the case has been registered.

In the last week of May, the man posing as Zaildar told Gajbhiye that his bank account was closed and his payments were stuck because he did not have a salary account.

“Gajbhiye told him that she did not have a salary account. Later in the first week of June when Gajbhiye posted a photo with the complainant Priyanka Sutar, the accused inquired about her and asked if she was a salaried person,” said the police officer.

Gajbhiye told him that Sutar is a civil engineer at a housing finance company. “After which he befriended Sutar and demanded her salary slip, pan card, Aadhaar card and bank statement to verify if her bank account was a salary account,” said the police officer.

The complainant even shared OTPs with him thinking that they were sent to verify if her bank account was a salary account.

She later got two messages about money credited to her account -- ₹67,000 and ₹1,46,000, which she transferred to the accused’s account.

“The complainant later learnt that the accused had taken personal loans from two finance companies in her name of ₹67,000 and ₹1,46,000 and that his real name was Sujit Kumar Manji. She subsequently lodged a complaint. While the cheating took place in June and July, Sutar only learnt about it in August after receiving bank notices for repayment of the loans,” said the police officer.