Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad cybercrime cell on Monday arrested four men involved in a parcel fraud registered with the Hinjewadi police , in which a 36-year-old software engineer lost Rs25 lakh between July 23 and 25. The arrested persons include two money mule account holders from Ahmednagar and Jalgaon and their two handlers from Surat in Gujarat. The victim works as an analyst with a prominent software company in Hinjewadi.
On July 23, she received a call from an unknown man, who posed as an executive of a courier company. The caller told the woman that a parcel bearing her name was being sent to Iran and was confiscated by the customs after drugs were found in it. When the woman denied sending any such parcel, the caller connected her to “an officer from the Mumbai police”.
The crook posing as an officer told the woman her bank account was used for money laundering and shared photographs of a political leader, who was arrested in a fraud case. While talking with the victim on an app, the officer told her to share her cellphone screen. He then told her to open two banking apps and check her balance.
The woman was later connected with another “senior police officer”, who told her that there were several cases registered against her and told her to transfer Rs10 lakh. The crooks told the victim to take leave for two days from her office. They also made her break her fixed deposits and took Rs15 lakh more from her.
After losing Rs 25lakh to the crooks, she approached the police and lodged a complaint. Assistant police inspector Pravin Swami of the cybercrime cell of Pimpri Chinchwad police told TOI that during investigations, it was revealed that some of the amount in the case was transferred to a bank account in Kopargaon of Ahmednagar district. “Our team, led by sub inspector Sagar Poman, reached Kopargaon and took account holder Swarup Khambekar (42) into custody.
Khambekar is a farmer. He revealed the name of his accomplice from Jalgaon, who had promised 3 percent commission per transaction in his bank account,” Swami said. The officer said his team then took Jalgaon-based pharmacist Puskhar Pakhale into custody.
“Pakhale revealed the names of two Surat-based suspects, Kaushik Borad and Monik Rangolia. We arrested them as well,” said Swami. He added that Pakhale came into contact with suspects Borad and Rangolia while supplying masks.
“The duo told him to find account holders for the transfer of money on a commission basis,” Swami said. He said the probe so far revealed that transactions worth over Rs2 crore were made through bank accounts used by suspects. “They have been remanded in police custody for four days.
Our investigations are on,” said Swami..
