Banker among three held for duping man of Rs 69 lakh

Mumbai: The city police arrested three men, including a banker, for allegedly enticing the complainant, who works in the IT industry, to invest in the online share market for ‘good profits' and defrauding him of nearly Rs 69 lakh. The accused used a 77-year-old retired Indian Navy officer's documents to open a bank account and used it to receive a portion of the complainant's money.Those arrested were Sachin Sawant, 48, Umesh Vishwakarma, 32, and Vibham Mishra, 31, all Mumbai residents. While Sawant is an electronic goods contractor, Vishwakarma works for a bank, and Mishra worked as a security guard before becoming a contractor. The trio was produced before a court, which sent them to police custody till May 13.The complainant approached the North cyber crime police station at Samata Nagar and told police that he was going through Facebook when he saw a link about guidance in share trading. When the complainant clicked the link, he was added to a WhatsApp group where the other participants were boasting about the profit they made. He was also lured into investing and given a login and password to access his virtual account. He was asked to download an app and buy shares from it. The accused gave him various account numbers, asking him to send money. He sent money and could see his investment and profit in his virtual account. When he tried to withdraw money, he failed. Despite several attempts to contact the accused, he did not get any satisfactory reply and then approached the police.A team led by inspector Sudhkar Humbe, assistant inspector Savita Kadam, and staff members Kiran Vasaikar, Sonali Dalvi, and Utej Parab examined the accused's bank account details. The investigators found an account which was used to park Rs 2.1 lakh in the crime. It was in the name of a retired navy officer. "The navy officer's son worked as a civil contractor. One of the accused also worked there. They told him (ex-navy officer's son) that they would start a business and make a good profit. They suggested opening a bank account in his father's name. They collected his father's documents, opened the bank account, and misused it for their criminal activities. The Navy officer's son had no clue about it," said an officer.The 1930 cyber helpline number team blocked several accounts belonging to the accused, which contained Rs 7.65 lakh. There were 90 cyber cheating complaints against this account registered on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCCRP), said police.........