Retired banker duped of ₹39 lakh in online fraud

Indore: A retired bank officer from Indore was put under “digital house arrest” by unidentified men and duped of Rs 39.60 lakh. They allegedly monitored him via a camera on an application and threatened to implicate him in a child trafficking case. The money was deposited online into various accounts.Lasudia police station in-charge Taresh Soni said that on the complaint of retired bank employee Rakesh Kumar Goyal, a resident of Mahalakshmi Nagar, a case was registered at Lasudia police station on Thursday night. He told the police that he received a call on July 11 from an unknown number, and the man identified himself as a constable from Andheri police station in Mumbai. He said that a warrant had been executed against Rakesh in a money laundering case and that he was transferring the call to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).After a while, another fraudster spoke to him and said that his credentials and ID were used to open another account, which was used for money laundering of Rs 8.20 crore, and this money was used in a child trafficking case. The man said that according to their supposed investigations, call records between Rakesh and an accused involved in money laundering were found. The accused man sent Rs 82 lakh to Rakesh instead of using his bank account, they told Rakesh to further scare him.Goyal told police that he was asked to download a video calling application on his phone. They gave him a login ID and password, which was in the name of Mumbai police. They showed him a press conference in which there were two people, and he saw one more person. They said that while conducting a check at his home, police had recovered bank passbooks which had Rakesh’s name on them.The dupes then asked him to open his bank account on the application, transferred Rs 21 lakh into an account and disconnected the call. After this, they kept asking for his location on the call.The next day, he again received a call on July 12 when he was told that his account was being monitored after his retirement and that an entry of Rs 19 lakh could not be found. They said that his wife’s account would also be investigated. The cyber-frauds assured him that if he is not found guilty during investigations, his money would be returned. In this way, they made him transfer Rs 18 lakh from his fixed deposit. Another Rs 60,000 was transferred by him into a third account.On the night of July 12, he again received a call from the accused, who asked him if he had shared the incident with anyone. When he refused, the accused sent him a fake govt certificate. When he sent this to his friend in the police department, he was told that he was defrauded. Rakesh then filed and FIR at the Lasudia police station.