False CBI gang cleans Rs 85 lakh from HDFC account, promising return in 15 minutes
PTC News Desk: A group using Skype to impersonate CBI, customs, drug, and income-tax inspectors forced a retired senior executive of a global company to pay Rs 85 lakh. A police complaint has been made in Delhi as well as the Andhra Pradesh city of Visakhapatnam, where the fraud occurred.
The group received the money by check and gave it to "Rana Garments," a business that had an HDFC account in Uttam Nagar, Delhi. As per the initial police report (FIR) submitted in Visakhapatnam, the group moved funds from the HDFC account managed by 'Rana Garments' to 105 other accounts throughout India.
According to the former officer, the Uttam Nagar branch of HDFC Bank has also reported fraud to the police.
"Despite having three years left in my career, I chose to voluntarily resign because I needed more time to be ready to send my kid off to study abroad. On May 2, I received my retirement payout. The appointment for my son's visa was on May 17. However, on May 14, the gang tricked me into donating Rs 85 lakh, which they promised would be reimbursed after reviewing my documentation," stated the distressed 57-year-old retired associate general manager of a pharmaceutical company with extensive operations in India and a headquarters in Germany.
The matter has been handed over to the Visakhapatnam Crime Branch. The crime is being looked into, according to police sources in the seaside city, and they have some clues.
The retired cop claimed that the gang knew everything about his account, even the precise amount he received after retiring, and suggested that certain insiders at the Visakhapatnam bank might be involved. "The gang told me to go to the nearest HDFC Bank and drop the cheque," he stated.
He added that when he spoke with bank executives, the bank failed to comment on the case's progress, but the Crime Branch had taken many documents from the HDFC Bank branch in Visakhapatnam.
"According to HDFC Bank, they are working with the Crime Branch. I have also informed the police that the Uttam Nagar (Delhi) branch did not perform a know your customer (KYC) check on Rana Garments. When Delhi police visited Rana Garments, they discovered that another company was using the space. The proprietor of Rana Garments cannot be located," the retired officer declared.
After the retirement savings were credited to the officer's HDFC Bank account, a man identifying himself as "DCP Cyber Crime Balsing Rajput" called the officer, according to the FIR. He informed the retired cop that his Aadhaar has been connected to multiple drug and money laundering cases in which his name has surfaced.
They put a lot of pressure on me and threatened to put me in jail right then and there. "I look innocent, so they should take the Rs 85 lakh for investigation and return it to me if the police find nothing amiss," the fake DCP informed his fictitious employer after they had a lengthy conversation, the retired officer said. "Two days passed during my 'interrogation' via Skype. I was not allowed to leave the house or make any calls," he stated.
Ultimately, the fictitious police forced the retired officer to deposit the check at the HDFC Bank branch in Visakhapatnam, promising to return it to him upon verification.
Regarding the question of whether the police have located any of the 105 accounts across various banks to which the ₹ 85 lakh was moved from Rana Garments' account, the retired officer stated the police have not provided him with anything regarding their investigation to yet.
People have been cautioned by the retired cop not to accept video calls on WhatsApp from unidentified numbers. The quantity of fraud will surprise you. The Visakhapatnam cyber police got ₹ 300 crore worth of complaints in a single month, the man claimed.
- With inputs from agencies
