Pune: A general manager (47) of an automobile company lost Rs 53 lakh to cybercrooks in yet another digital arrest fraud between April 2 and 11.The victim is a resident of Moshi and lodged a complaint with the Pimpri Chinchwad cybercrime police on Saturday.After receiving the complaint, the cybercrime police team, led by senior inspector Ravikiran Nale, detained two mule bank account holders from Ahilyanagar district.Assistant inspector Pravin Swami of the Pimpri Chinchwad cybercrime police told TOI that the complainant works as the general manager with a prominent automobile company. “On April 2, he received a copy of a ‘letter’ on his mobile messaging app stating that his bank account was used for money laundering and a case was registered against him,” Swami said.The officer said the victim contacted the number mentioned in the message. The person on the other end claimed to be an officer from the Mumbai crime branch. The person informed the victim that his bank account was used for money laundering and a case was registered against him which might lead to his arrest.“The person said the police and the bank needed to verify his bank account. The victim told the person that he had two bank accounts and requested him to verify both accounts,” the officer said.Swami said the person then made a video call to the victim and connected him to the an alleged finance department head of Reserve Bank of India. “They then took the details of victim’s bank accounts,” Swami said, adding that the two suspects told the victim for bank to verify the accounts; he needed to transfer money to the Reserve Bank of India. They also assured the victim that the bank would return the money to him immediately after the verification. “Believing them, the victim transferred Rs 53 lakh to the three bank account numbers on April 2,” the officer said.Swami said after getting the money, the crooks was in contact with him through a video call. They told him that the verification was ongoing and do not to disclose this to anyone. “The victim realised that he was duped when the ‘police officer’ and the ‘bank officer’ stopped responding to his calls. He then filed an online complaint,” Swami said.The investigations revealed that the money was transferred to the three private bank accounts in Pune and then rerouted to a few more bank accounts. “Our investigations are ongoing,” said an officer from the Pimpri Chinchwad cybercrime police.
