Posing as friend, fraudster dupes 52-year-old of ₹18 lakh in Nagpur

The fraudster told the victim that his mother was in a serious condition and admitted to a hospital in Nagpur. The officials said another man posing as a bank executive was also involved in the crime.

A 52-year-old man from Nagpur in Maharashtra was allegedly duped of ₹18.5 lakh by a fraudster who posed as a close friend of the victim, police said. The victim received a call on his phone from Canada earlier this month and the person on the other side posed as his friend.

Maharashtra: Based on the victim's complaint, the police on Monday registered a case against the unidentified accused. (Image for representation)

He told the victim that his mother was in a serious condition and admitted to a hospital in Nagpur. He also told the victim that he would transfer ₹18.5 lakh to his account to pay for the medical expenses of his mother, an official from Yashodhara Nagar police station said. The victim later received a call from another person posing as a bank executive, who told him that the process of transferring ₹18.5 lakh to his account was held up due to a technical issue.

Later, the person who had posed as the victim's friend called him again to transfer ₹3 lakh first into the bank account number given by him for his mother's treatment. He later requested for more funds from the victim who allegedly transferred amounts totalling ₹18.5 lakh into the account numbers given by the accused, the official said.

The victim later realised something amiss and approached the cyber police to lodge a complaint, the official said. Based on the complaint, the police on Monday registered a case against the unidentified accused under Indian Penal Code sections for cheating and provisions of the Information Technology Act, he said, adding that an investigation was on into the case.