Spoofing fraud: Accused attempted to dupe Congress leader from Karnataka, 50 others

During investigation, police found that the accused called more than 50 people from Maharashtra and Karnataka to extort money from them

PUNE The accused who tried to extort a city-based builder of Rs3 crore by making a spoof call, impersonating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary and former mayor of the city Murlidhar Mohol, tried to dupe a Congress leader from Karnataka last week. The said leader did not take the call seriously and the extortion bid failed. Police officials refused to name the leader.

The accused got contact details of celebrities and other well-known people from the internet and makes spoof calls to extort money and dupe people. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

During investigation, police found that the accused called more than 50 people from Maharashtra and Karnataka to extort money from them.

The prime accused Sandeep Pirgonda Patil (33), a resident of Beknar in Kolhapur district and Shekhar Gajanan Takwane (35), a resident of Bhalekar Chawl in Karve Nagar, were arrested by the crime branch unit 3 of the Pune city police on March 25.

The police have booked the duo under various sections including 384 (Punishment for extortion), 385 (Extortion), of the Indian Penal Code, and 66 (c), (d) (Impersonation using electronic gadgets) of IT Act.

A senior police official from Pune city police department, said, “Last week the accused Patil tried to dupe a Congress leader from Karnataka through a spoof call and tried to extort money from him. However, the leader did not take it seriously and the extortion bid failed.”

Police said, Patil called the Congress leader and threatened him with raids by Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the income tax department.

While elaborating modus operandi of the crime, police said, the accused got contact details of celebrities and other well-known people from the internet and makes spoof calls to extort money and dupe people.

According to police, the accused might have used spoof applications such as X-lite, Eyebeam and Indicall and posed as the real owner of the mobile number to dupe people. Such apps display fake caller IDs.

Police have seized mobile phones, sim cards, and electronic devices from the accused and technical analysis is underway.

Accused Patil was working in a cooperative bank and has completed his studies in the Commerce field. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he lost his job and since then he had done multiple odd jobs to earn bread and butter. Meanwhile, he had borrowed a hefty amount of money and he was under pressure to repay it. Hence, he was in search of an instant money-making source, said police.