Terror attack ruse used to dupe Haveri man of Rs 21.5 lakh

Haveri: In what is being described as one of the biggest cyber fraud cases in the city, a resident of Hangal taluk in Haveri district was cheated of Rs 21.5 lakh by an online gang through a well-orchestrated scheme.

The 48-year-old victim, B Nagabhushan, lost the money to fraudsters who posed as officials of the CBI, ATS and ED. A case has been registered at Haveri CEN police station. According to the complaint, unidentified persons, introducing themselves as Ranbir Singh and Pradeep Kumar, contacted the complainant through a WhatsApp video call on May 12 and kept him under pressure for nearly 12 hours through continuous audio and video interaction.

The fraudsters cited the Pahalgam terror attack and claimed that a terrorist named Adil Gori had used the complainant’s Aadhaar card to open a bank account in HSBC for money laundering, from which the complainant allegedly received a 15% profit. “They said Adil Gori, who was caught by them, mentioned the complainant’s name and Aadhaar details, linking him to the case,” the complaint stated.

The accused further alleged that the complainant had signed documents to open the account and participated in illegal transactions through multiple banking channels. They also claimed that the RBI had frozen the suspect’s accounts and that several individuals had opened accounts using fake documents involving bank officials. The victim initially transferred Rs 5.5 lakh and later Rs 16 lakh, totalling Rs 21.5 lakh, allegedly to close the case.

“They were summoned for investigation, with the callers claiming to be IPS officers, and the conversation continued from 3pm to 3am on May 13,” the complaint added.

Superintendent of police Yashodha Vantagudi said fraudsters are adopting new tactics to cheat people online. “The accused used the Pahalgam terror attack to create a fake ‘digital arrest’ situation. There is no concept of arrest through digital means, and people should not respond to such calls,” she said.