Consultant trapped by cyber crooks; loses Rs 42 lakh

Lokmat News Services

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

A consulting professional fell into the trap of cybercriminals and lost Rs 42 lakh. The Cyber Police have registered a zero case in this matter and later transferred it to the MIDC Cidco Police for further investigation.

Consulting professional Rajesh Nair (N-1), on February 5, Rajesh Nair received a call from an unknown number. The woman on the call, introducing herself as Nisha Basu, lured him with an investment opportunity in the share market through the Sherkhan Securities Pvt. Ltd. Company. She promised good returns if he joined a WhatsApp group. She provided information about various shares and gave a bank account for investment, assuring him that his money would be invested in IPOs to generate maximum returns.

Stayed in contact for 30 days

The cybercriminals were in continuous contact with Nair for 30 days. Trusting them, Nair transferred Rs 42.18 lakh to the bank account provided by Nisha Basu. On the Mirae Asset Sherkhan portal, it appeared that he was making profits. On March 6, Nair tried to withdraw the amount. However, Basu imposed a condition to pay a tax of Rs 19 lakh. When Nair became suspicious, he filed a complaint with Inspector Shivcharan Pandhare at the Cyber Police Station.

Fake bank accounts to loot money

The cybercriminals had opened fake bank accounts in the names of various companies and startups to steal money. Amounts were transferred to 17 bank accounts of companies such as Saptagiri Traders, Shreya Info Solutions, Ganesh Enterprises, Durga Enterprises, Chettinad Food, Surya Impex, and Utkarsh Research Network Ltd. Interestingly, after Nair researched the company online, he found that a person named Madhusudan Warrior was working at Mirae Asset Sherkhan.

Inspector Shivcharan Pandhare's team sent the investigation report to the MIDC Cidco Police. After that, a case was registered, and Inspector Gajanan Kalyankar is conducting further investigations.