Pune: Cybercrooks forced a retired railway engineer (74) to transfer Rs49.2 lakh between July 5 and 31 after representing themselves as “CBI and ED officials” and putting him under the fear of “prosecution for money laundering”. “The crooks called the senior citizen, a resident of Sinhagad Road, and claimed that his Aadhaar and PAN cards were used in money laundering transactions by a prominent businessman and they were investigating it,” senior inspector Anand Khobare of the Sinhagad Road police said.
“The crooks claimed that the victim was suspected of having close ties with the businessman and could be arrested in the matter. They went on to issue him a bogus arrest warrant through an instant messaging application in the name of one of the central probe agencies. The crooks then told him to make money transfers to avoid getting arrested,” he said.
Under fear, the man terminated all his fixed deposits and used up his entire savings to make money transfers to eight different bank accounts given by the crooks, Khobare said. The victim discussed the matter with his family members only when he ran out of cash and the crooks kept on asking for more money, the officer said. “The elderly man stays with his son and other family members.
He did not discuss the crooks’ threats with his family members at the onset. He spoke to them after transferring the money,” he said. His family members took him to the police station to report the matter and lodge a complaint.
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