Hyderabad: A 40-year-old woman lost Rs 1.59 crore, including deposits and insurance paid to her upon her husband’s recent demise, to cyberfraudsters, who conned their victim by impersonating police and government authorities and accusing her of being involved in narcotics trafficking.
In the crime, the fraudsters mentally harassed the woman, forcing her to send her entire life savings to secure pre-arrest bail in the smuggling case. She made an RTGS transaction, as directed by the fraudsters, transferring the entire money in one go, despite the bank flagging the transaction as potentially fraudulent.
The police said that the woman, who works for a private firm, lost her husband and received an insurance payout. In August, she received a call from a person claiming to be from a courier company, stating that a parcel containing illegal drugs was shipped under her name. Upon pleading her innocence, she was redirected to another person, who claimed to be a Mumbai Police officer.
The ‘officer’ said a parcel containing illegal narcotics being sent from Mumbai to Taiwan was intercepted and she would face serious charges. Upon pleading with them, she was directed to break all her bank deposits and transfer them to one of her accounts. Later, they instructed her to make an RTGS transaction of Rs 1.59 crore to an account shared by them, to prove her innocence.
The case was reported to the Rachakonda Cybercrime wing in August 2023 and the police arrested two suspects whose accounts were used in the fraud, reverting Rs 20 lakh to the victim after due court proceedings a few days ago, a senior official of Rachakonda police said.
The police traced the fraudsters’ account holder to Gujarat and arrested the holder and an associate, both of whom were found to be decoys. The duo had supplied their bank account on a commission basis and the same was used by the kingpin to loot the victim, the police said.
