How fraudsters posing as CBI duped Mumbai based CIO of Rs 1 crore using child trafficking, drug smuggling scare | Mumbai News – Times of India

A Mumbai-based CIO fell victim to an elaborate cyber scam, losing ₹1.07 crore. Fraudsters posing as Delhi Cyber Crime and CBI officers accused him of involvement in serious crimes, claiming his Aadhaar was used for illicit activities.

MUMBAI: A private company’s 58-year-old chief information officer (CIO) lost Rs 1.07 crore to cyber fraudsters who threatened him by saying a bank account, opened using his Aadhar details, was used to park Rs 6.8 crore by a gang involved in sex trafficking, drug smuggling, child kidnapping, selling body organs, and money laundering.
The complainant was told that his Aadhaar details were used to send a parcel to Thailand, which contained five Pakistani passports, three bank credit cards, and 140 grams of narcotics. The cyber fraudsters kept him under online arrest for a week.
The fraudsters, claiming to be from the Delhi cyber crime unit and CBI, questioned the complainant through Skype and recorded his statement.
The CIO’s complaint stated he received a call from one Rahul Shukla on Aug 22, identifying himself as being from a courier company. Shukla said the parcel the complainant sent to Thailand had been returned since the address was not found.
Shukla said the parcel contained five passports, three bank credit cards, one laptop, 4.2kg of clothes, and 140 grams of MDMA drugs. When the complainant said it was not his parcel, Shukla said since it contained illegal items, he would be subjected to scrutiny.
Shukla asked him to speak to Delhi cyber police officers and connected the call to another person, sub-inspector Pradeep Jain.
Jain then asked him to download Skype app. The complainant followed the instructions. When the complainant asked Jain why his camera was off, Jain said he could not show his face due to security reasons.
The complainant was then made to speak to a fake assistant SP in CBI and investigating officer, Samadhan Pawar.
As per the FIR, registered in mid-Nov, Pawar told the complainant that using his Aadhaar card details, a bank account was opened and Rs 6.8 crore was deposited in it. Pawar told him that money fetched through sex trafficking, drug smuggling, and money laundering was obtained by a gang, and a total of 40 families were affected due to it.
The complainant was told that children of 15 families were kidnapped, raped, and their body organs were sold. The Rs 6.8 crore fetched through these illegal activities was deposited in the account in the complainant’s name. Pawar told the complainant that that there could be a threat to his life if he revealed about this to anyone.
The accused then asked him about his investments and bank accounts. He was instructed to send all his money to one bank account provided by the accused. He transferred Rs 1.07 crore.
The accused promised to return the money within 8-10 hours after scrutiny. Later, however, they neither returned the money nor responded to his calls.
This is when he realised he was cheated and approached the North region cyber crime police station, located in Samata Nagar. Further probe is ongoing.