Mumbai: A 26-year-old Andheri resident has been arrested for allegedly letting cyber fraudsters make use of his bank account to park money received by cheating people. The account holder, Sohail Basheer Shaikh, had received Rs 5 lakh into his bank account — money that had been fraudulently taken from a cyber fraud victim, the police said. In return, the arrested man had been paid Rs 10,000 for allowing the use of his account.
During questioning, the man told the police that he had given his bank account kit to the fraudsters –– a cheque book and debit card. The ill-gotten funds that were credited to his account were further transferred to another account by the cyber fraudsters, said the police.
The amount of Rs 5 lakh that had been parked into his account was received in a digital arrest case involving a retired director of a well-known pharma company, said cyber police officials. The cyber fraudsters had threatened the pharma company director with arrest by masquerading as fake cops. The 87-year-old south Mumbai resident had shelled out Rs 90 lakh to the fraudsters. Of this, Rs 5 lakh had been transferred to the arrested man’s bank account.The octogenarian lodged an FIR with South Region Cyber-Crime Police Station located at Grant Road on Jan 23.
Elaborating on the fraud, a police source said that it took place between Dec 20 last year and Jan 1 this year. The complainant first received a WhatsApp call from a person who claimed to be a cyber cop from Delhi. He threatened the complainant, saying his account had been used in a money-laundering case. He further said that a case had been registered against him
A team led by senior inspector Nankumar Gopale, inspector Sandeep Kale, assistant inspector Rupali Chaudhri, and staff members Sachin Dhotre and Gorakh Parkar, arrested the Andheri resident.
A total of 193 bank accounts of various accused in the case, having a collective balance of Rs 27 lakh have been frozen, said the police.