E-Paper
₹7 crore lost in cyber frauds in one day in city
In one case, four persons were booked for allegedly cheating jewellery traders in Koregaon Park of gold and silver worth ₹3.27 crore by posing as buyers and later defaulting on payment.
Pune: Police registered multiple cheating and cyber fraud cases involving losses exceeding ₹7 crore across the city on January 28, said officials.
In one case, four persons were booked for allegedly cheating jewellery traders in Koregaon Park of gold and silver worth ₹3.27 crore by posing as buyers and later defaulting on payment.
According to the complaint, the accused approached the owners of Navkar Jewellers and Shri Navkar Plus, posing as genuine buyers with established business credentials. After gaining the complainants’ confidence, the accused took delivery of large quantities of gold and silver ornaments, assuring payment within two to three days. However, the payment was never made, and the accused subsequently became unreachable. Police said an investigation is underway to trace the accused and recover the valuables.
In Kothrud, police registered a case after a 68-year-old senior citizen was allegedly duped of ₹40.99 lakh in a fraudulent investment scheme. Police said the accused convinced the complainant to invest in a company that claimed to offer guaranteed and unusually high returns. To build credibility, the accused initially paid small returns before persuading the victim to invest larger sums over time. When the promised returns stopped and repeated demands for a refund went unanswered, the victim approached the police.
Another Kothrud resident, aged 49, lost ₹22.02 lakh in an online share trading scam. According to police, the complainant was contacted through WhatsApp and added to online groups that displayed fabricated trading profits through fake dashboards and links. Believing the money was being invested in the stock market, the complainant transferred funds in multiple transactions. The accused later blocked all communication, prompting the registration of a cheating case.
In a separate cyber fraud reported from the Alankar area, a woman was cheated of ₹20.16 lakh in a Telegram-based ‘online task’ fraud. Police said the accused offered the woman easy earnings for completing online tasks. She was initially paid small amounts, after which she was persuaded to transfer larger sums under various pretexts, including commissions, upgrades and processing charges. The accused stopped responding once the money was transferred.
Police also registered a case after a bank branch in the camp area detected a cheque fraud amounting to ₹1.11 crore. According to investigators, the accused, one of whom is a caretaker, allegedly forged cheques and signatures and misused banking instruments to withdraw large sums without authorisation from the bank account of an 87-year-old senior citizen. The case points to a planned conspiracy involving forged documents and the manipulation of banking procedures by the caretaker and another co-accused, identified as Rajesh Shah and Supreet Singh Kandari, the FIR states.
Vivek Masal, DCP (economic offences wing and cyber crime) said apart from these major cases, police recorded additional complaints involving online impersonation, digital payment fraud and false assurances of financial gains. All cases were registered on January 28 under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.
“People should verify credentials, avoid sharing banking or OTP details and report suspicious transactions immediately,” said Masal.
