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A 35-year-old man was allegedly cheated of ₹71 lakh over the course of five years by suspects claiming to be various corporate and government officials on three different occasions, police said on Thursday.
Police said that the victim — who police did not identify — works as a top executive of real estate firm in Sector 44.
Police said that in the first instance, suspects contacted him in May 2018 while pretending to be officials of a foreign bank. They collected his personal details claiming to offer life insurance in return, police said, adding that they even offered him an instant loan.
After he agreed to avail the loan and insurance from them, the suspects asked him to deposit money as various fees for disbursal of loan, police said.
“As a result, the victim was duped of ₹12 lakh from May-June 2018,” said a senior police officer
The officer added that the victim was contacted again in June the following year; but this time, the group of suspects claimed to be insurance ombudsman.
“They told him that police had recovered documents from some arrested suspects in Delhi and Noida and claimed that he was among several cheated in the name of insurance and that they were working to help victims. But they cheated him in the name of ‘income tax’, ‘file charge’, and other fees,” he said, adding that this went on for a few months during which the victim lost ₹39 lakh.
“In September 2022, another group contacted the victim claiming to be officials of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Union finance ministry to cheat him ₹20 lakh claiming that they were investigating his cheating case,” the officer added.
Meanwhile, the complainant told police that he did not suspect anything wrong in the second and third instances as they occurred after a gap of several months.
After the victim contacted police in May, an FIR was registered under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66D (cheating by personation using communication device or computer resource) of the Information Technology Act at Cybercrime police station (east) on Wednesday.
Inspector Jasvir Singh, station house officer of Cybercrime police station (east), said that the case is under investigation and attempts were on to arrest the suspects.
“Such insurance frauds mainly take place with elderly people and it takes time for the victim to understand that a fraud had taken place with them,” he said. The SHO added that the suspects may be same or could be of separate gangs connected with each other. “Once they are nabbed, things will become clear,” he said.
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