SMC staffer duped of Rs 5.3L

Surat: Five unidentified people were booked at cybercrime police station for duping a cleaning worker of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) of Rs5.30 lakh here on Saturday. The complainant was promised a loan of Rs6 lakh by the fraudsters posing as employees of a leading private financial company and of the banking regulator.

Kirit Patel, 31, a resident of Jahangirpura, in his police complaint named Ansuman Sahu, Naresh and three account holders of a bank for cheating him.

Patel was looking for loan to buy a house and got the phone number of the company by searching on internet. He called up on the number and a person on the other end introduced himself as Ansuman Sahu. Patel inquired about loan and the accused asked him to send copies of documents through WhatsApp.

Patel was informed by the accused that his loan has been approved and demanded Rs5,500 as processing charges. The accused provided details of a bank account for transferring the money. Patel transferred the money electronically and the accused confirmed its receipt. Subsequently, the accused made multiple calls at regular intervals and kept on demanding money on various pretexts. He asked the accused to prove his identity and he sent him image of a PAN card and a company identity card. The accused also sent an ID of one of their associates which showed him working as manager of Reserve Bank. The complainant fell into the trap and transferred about Rs5.30 lakh in multiple transactions.