Kanpur: Cyber fraudsters allegedly duped a 72-year-old retired Merchant Navy officer of Rs1.25 crore on the pretext of high returns on investments. Police said the victim transferred money to the fraudsters in 19 transactions over nearly two months, after which the amount was layered through nearly 2,000 bank accounts across the country.An FIR has been registered at Kohna police station, and the cyber cell has launched an investigation. Preliminary findings revealed that a substantial portion of the money was routed through accounts in Bengaluru, Faridabad, Sahibabad and Madhya Pradesh. Police said efforts are underway to identify and arrest the accused.The victim, a resident of Tilak Nagar, retired from the Merchant Navy as a second engineer. His wife lives with him, while their two children—a doctor and an engineer—are both employed in the US.According to the complaint, the fraud began in Feb 2026 when a woman contacted him through Facebook, claiming she was ill and seeking financial help. She allegedly shared a video of herself walking with a walking stick, prompting the victim to transfer some money to her account. The woman later persuaded him to invest by promising lucrative returns and sent him a link to an online investment platform. The victim invested Rs1.25 crore in 19 instalments between Feb 15 and April 13. The fraudsters subsequently displayed on the platform that his investment had grown to Rs2.50 crore.When he attempted to withdraw the amount, the accused allegedly demanded additional payments, convincing him to transfer Rs30 lakh on two occasions as processing charges. They later demanded another Rs90 lakh for releasing the purported returns.The fraud came to light when the retired officer approached a friend seeking a loan of Rs5 lakh. The friend became suspicious, informed his family members, and the victim realised he had been cheated. The victim subsequently approached police commissioner Raghubir Lal, following which an FIR was registered. The police commissioner said the cyber cell’s investigation found that the defrauded amount had been transferred to nearly 2,000 bank accounts across the country. He added that Rs24 lakh has been frozen so far and that police are tracing the beneficiaries of the transactions.
