Mangaluru: A 66-year-old man from Mangaluru was allegedly duped of Rs 34.4 lakh by cyber fraudsters who posed as officials of the data protection board of India and Mumbai police, and threatened him with arrest in a money-laundering case. The complainant, stated on July 10, he received a call from a person who introduced himself as Aman Kumar Sharma, purportedly an officer of the Data Protection Board of India.The caller claimed that some unknown people had misused the complainant’s ID-card to obtain SIM card and used it for illegal activities. He then told the complainant to speak with the Colaba police, Mumbai, to have the SIM card deactivated and purportedly connected the call to the police station.The perpetrators posing as Colaba police claimed that approximately Rs 2 crore had been transferred to the account and that the complainant had received Rs 20 lakh as commission. The fraudsters told the complainant that a case had been registered in connection with the transaction and that the Supreme Court had issued an arrest warrant against the complainant. They threatened to arrest the complainant unless all the money in the complainant’s bank account was transferred to the Reserve Bank of India. They assured the complainant that the funds would be verified against the money with the bank accounts of O.M. Abdul Salam (who used the complainat’s ID to buy the SIM), and the money will subsequently be returned.Believing their claims, the complainant transferred a total of Rs 34,48,094 through RTGS, in multiple transactions between July 12 and July 27, to bank accounts. The accused promised to return the money within two days. However, even after four days, the amount was not refunded. When the complainant attempted to contact them, they did not answer the calls. The complainant later informed acquaintances about the matter. After examining the complainant’s phone, they confirmed that the complainant had been defrauded. A case has been registered at the CEN crime police station.
