Frauds pose as former CBI chief, dupe retd colonel of ₹6.90L

According to the police, the complainant was part of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, and he runs a security services company now. He has an office in Colaba and lives in Worli

MUMBAI: A 73-year-old retired colonel, presently the director of a security company, was cheated of ₹6.90 lakh by cyber frauds on Monday. The frauds initially posed as customs officers and told him his courier parcel was detained at Delhi airport; they then posed as the recently retired Central Bureau of investigation (CBI) chief SK Jaiswal, told him several bank accounts had been opened in his name which were used to launder money received via sale of drugs, and asked him to transfer all the money in his bank accounts to them till verification by RBI was over.

HT Image

According to the police, the complainant was part of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, and he runs a security services company now. He has an office in Colaba and lives in Worli.

“The retired colonel received a call from an unknown number on Monday. The callers claimed to be from the Customs department at Delhi airport and told him that a parcel he had sent to Cambodia had been caught, as it had Mephedrone in it. They asked him to report to Delhi urgently, but when he said he was unable to do so at short notice, they said they had a hotline number for the same. He immediately got a video call from a person who was wearing a police uniform and who introduced himself as IPS officer SK Jaiswal,” said the police officer.

The man posing as Jaiswal told the retired colonel that several bank accounts had been opened in his name and the accounts were used to launder drugs money. He even sent the latter an arrest warrant bearing a signature of a Delhi judge, which appeared to be a forged document, said the police officer.

“The caller then told the colonel that the RBI would verify his bank accounts and he was required to transfer all the money in his accounts to the bank accounts provided by the frauds for the purpose of the “verification”. They said the money would be returned to his accounts after completion of the verification,” said the officer.

The retired colonel subsequently went to the bank where he has an account and transferred ₹6.90 lakh as directed during the call. “The frauds kept the video call on through this duration and told him not to disconnect it. Finally, they gave him two toll-free numbers saying that to withdraw his money, he would need to call the numbers,” said the officer.

Later, when the complainant tried calling the numbers, nobody answered the calls. He then informed his son-in-law about the matter who told him that he had been cheated, after which he approached the police.

The Colaba police have registered a case under sections 34 (common intention), 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, based on the retired colonel’s complaint.