Rajkot:A 34-year-old textile trader from the city was allegedly duped of Rs 13.01 lakh by cyberfraudsters posing as representatives of two non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) who promised him a Rs 15 lakh business loan.According to the complaint, Rishabh Sanghvi, who runs his business in Wankaner, came across an advertisement on Facebook on Aug 21 that offered a Rs 15 lakh loan. In dire need of funds for his business, he clicked on the ‘apply loan’ option.The following day, Sanghvi received a call from an unknown number. The caller, who identified himself as Santosh Nair, claimed to be an NBFC representative and said he would process the loan. The fraudsters initially collected Rs 8,500 as a processing fee through a QR code. They later demanded additional payments for an agreement, stamp duty, insurance, GST and other govt charges, the complaint stated.On Aug 23, the fraudsters sought Rs 1.18 lakh towards TDS and NOC charges. Sanghvi transferred the amount through a UPI QR code registered in the name of Riya Das.The following day, another person, identifying himself as Abhishek Mandal and claiming to represent another NBFC, contacted Sanghvi. He told the trader that his Rs 15 lakh loan had been approved and collected Rs 21,240 towards processing and legal charges.The fraud continued over the next few days. On Aug 25, the accused allegedly collected Rs 55,250 from Sanghvi’s wife’s bank account and Rs 56,500 from his friend’s account, claiming the amounts were required as charges for transferring funds from one state to another.The accused demanded further payments under various pretexts, including EMI, hold-release, digital signature and auto-pay charges, resulting in Sanghvi losing a total of Rs 13.01 lakh.
