NEW DELHI: A 67-year-old woman from Mumbai lost Rs 14 lakh to online fraudsters who tricked her into believing she was involved in a money laundering case. The scammers posed as officials from the Delhi Telecom Department and Cyber Crime branch, according to police.
The incident occurred between September 1 and 5, when the victim, living in Kandivali West with her sister-in-law, received a call from someone claiming to be from the Delhi Telecom Department. This person told her she was accused in a money laundering case and that her Aadhaar card had been misused.
She was later connected to another scammer impersonating a cyber crime officer named Rakesh Kumar. The alleged officer showed her fake Delhi Police letters and warned her of potential jail time, creating a sense of fear.
Another perpetrator, pretending to be an officer named Shobha Sharma, then instructed the victim to deposit her bank savings, mutual funds, and fixed deposits into a specified bank account, supposedly for verification purposes.
“On Sharma’s instructions, the victim went to the bank, broke fixed deposits, mutual funds as well as savings and deposited Rs 14 lakh in the given account number through RTGS,” a police official said. The woman realized she had been deceived after discussing the situation with her son and subsequently reported the incident to the police.
The police registered a case on Saturday at the North Region Cyber Police Station based on her complaint and are investigating the matter.
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