65-year-old in Mumbai cheated of Rs17.67 lakh in insurance fraud

The women asked her to pay money ranging between Rs38,000 to Rs2 lakh several times as processing fee for claiming the matured policy.

A 65-year-old citizen was duped of Rs17.67 lakh by two cybercriminals who posed as senior executives of an insurance firm and tricked her into paying “processing fee” of Rs1 crore for her dead husband’s health policy.

A 65-year-old citizen was duped of Rs17.67 lakh by two cybercriminals. (HT File (Representational Image))

According to Manikpur police, the complainant, Uma Trivedi, a resident of Vasai (West) was the sole guardian of her 28-year-old autistic son after her husband, Ashok Trivedi’s death in 2007. Between July 2016 and May 2017, two women called up Trivedi posing as executives of an insurance company with whom Ashok had a policy.

The women asked her to pay money ranging between Rs38,000 to Rs2 lakh several times as processing fee for claiming the matured policy. Trivedi said, “When I received the first call, the woman asked for my husband. She had all our details. When I said Ashok had died, she asked me for Uma. ‘I said I am Uma’, after which she told me that Ashok had started an insurance policy which had matured and I would be getting Rs20 lakh.”

When Trivedi approached the Manikpur police in May 2017 with a written complaint, they failed to register a case. Finally, they lodged a FIR on April 1, 2018, under relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act.