Two pose as bank officials, dupe people of Rs18 lakh in Mumbai

The arrested accused have been identified as Minaz Kanchvala and Nigerian national Victor Chidi alias Candy.

The Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) police on Monday arrested two people, including a foreign national, for allegedly cheating multiple people by posing as Bank of Montreal (BOM) officials and siphoning off nearly ₹18 lakh.

The accused posed as officials of Bank of Montreal and duped people of nearly Rs18 lakh.(HT File (Representational Image))

The arrested accused have been identified as Minaz Kanchvala and Nigerian national Victor Chidi alias Candy. “Bulk messages were sent to victims stating that BOM will issue loan and an email id, and a contact number was given. When the victims dialled the number, they were asked to pay ₹3,750 per lakh to avail the loan,” said an officer.

According to the police, Anuja Bandagle, chief representative officer, BOM, approached the police after Vishwakarma, one of the victims, went to the bank to claim the money. Police said the KYC details of the account revealed that it belonged to Vijay Pratap Singh and the voter ID submitted was fake. The police found that one of the persons related to the scam, Avinash Dixit, was earlier arrested by the Agra cyber cell.

“When we reached his address, his son told us his father, who was actually called Bass Kumar Maitri, stayed elsewhere. When we went there, we got hold of Kanchvala who works with Maitri,” said the officer. Through Kanchvala, they traced Candy.

“Money was transferred to his account and a commission was given to Kanchvala. The money was then transferred to another foreign national’s account, who is absconding. We suspect the gang siphoned off ₹18 lakh,” said the officer.