Santacruz businessman loses ₹21 lakh to cyber gangs in 2 years; probe begins

A businessman from Santacruz has approached the police claiming that he had lost nearly ₹21 lakh to three cyber gangs in the last two years

A businessman from Santacruz has approached the police claiming that he had lost nearly ₹21 lakh to three cyber gangs in the last two years. Officers of the cyber police station (west region), located at Bandra Kurla Complex, have begun investigation into the complaint.

Santacruz businessman loses ₹21 lakh to cyber gangs in 2 years; probe begins

According to the complainant, on May 9, 2020, he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number informing him that he had won a Facebook star lottery worth ₹22 lakh. The sender, one Pradeep, however, asked him to first pay the registration charges, taxes, and other fees totaling ₹2.44 lakh.

Pradeep’s senior officer Ali and his assistant Namita Dey also contacted the complainant. Ali even sent him a photo of the cheque for ₹22 lakh issued in his name. Convinced, the complainant made the payment. When they demanded more money to process the lottery claim, the complainant refused and instead asked them to return his ₹2.44 lakh, but got nothing, the police said.

Three months later, on December 27, 2021, the businessman received a WhatsApp message from an international number belonging to one Prince Hamdan of Dubai. He told the complainant that he had won the ‘Prince Fathers Compensation Fund’ of $1.5 million (approximately ₹12.30 crore) in a lucky draw.

“Hamdan made the businessman pay ₹9.20 lakh in the name of processing fees until the former decided to stop sending him money in May this year. When the complainant asked for the $1.5 million, Hamdan ignored him,” a police officer said.

In July, the complainant received another WhatsApp message from an unknown number. This time, he was told that his name had been selected for ‘Covid-19 poverty eradication Lutheran world relief humanitarian aid’ and he would be given an unclaimed donation amount of $4.5 million (approximately ₹36.90 crore). He also got an email informing him that he would receive a demand draft of the said amount soon, the complaint said.

A few days later, the complainant received a call from one Gurmeer Singh, who identified himself as a customs officer at Delhi airport. “Singh told him that they had received the demand draft of an unclaimed donation amount of $4.5 million and asked him to contact another customs officer to get it cleared. The other officer, on the pretext of clearing his DD, made the businessman pay various fees and taxes, which came to ₹9.17 lakh. When the complainant asked them to release his demand draft, they cut off all their communications with him. He then realised that he was cheated,” a cyber police officer said.

The complainant finally told his family that he had lost ₹20.81 lakh to frauds in the last two years and filed a complaint at cyber police station (west region) last month.

After preliminary enquiry, the police recently registered an FIR against the persons named by the complainant under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.

“We will write to the cellular service providers seeking details of the mobile numbers used in the crimes. We will also approach the banks concerned to know about the accounts in which the money was deposited by the businessman,” a police officer said.

The complainant, 55, has a business of leather products manufacturing and resides at Jawahar Nagar in Santacruz East.