A retired employee of Torrent Power, Shrenik Vaishnav, became the unfortunate victim of a sophisticated scam orchestrated by individuals posing as Mumbai police and former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik. The fraudsters, who identified themselves as ‘Pradip Sawant of Mumbai police cybercrime cell,’ falsely accused Vaishnav of money laundering and threatened to apprehend him if he failed to comply with their demands.
To lend credibility to their deception, the scammers provided forged letters purporting to be from Mumbai police, the enforcement directorate, and the central bureau of investigation (CBI). They exploited Vaishnav’s trust by instructing him to transfer all his money to a specified bank account for ‘verification’ purposes. Not only that, they compelled him to sell his shares and deposit the proceeds into another account provided by them.
The elaborate ruse continued for three days, during which Vaishnav remained under the scammers’ control, forced to stay in front of his mobile phone camera and communicate with them via Skype using Wi-Fi. Between April 19 and April 22, Vaishnav transferred a substantial sum of Rs 41 lakh to the fraudsters.
Once they had successfully extracted the money, the scammers abruptly disconnected the call and deactivated the number they had been using for communication. Vaishnav, comprehending the gravity of the situation, immediately contacted the cybercrime helpline and filed a complaint.
The cybercrime police have initiated a thorough investigation and registered a complaint under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. The offenses include extortion by threat of accusation of an offense punishable with death or imprisonment for life, breach of trust, cheating, forgery, producing forged documents as genuine, impersonating a public servant, and criminal conspiracy against unknown individuals.
This incident serves as a stark reminder of the increasing sophistication of cybercrimes and the importance of exercising caution while dealing with unsolicited communication, especially when financial transactions are involved.
