Mumbai: Cyber Fraudster Poses As HC Employee, Dupes Trader Of ₹5 Lakh

Cyber fraudsters have devised a new trick to deceive people. The Malabar Hill Police have arrested a man for allegedly posing as a Bombay High Court employee and cheating a stock market trader out of ₹5 lakh.

As per information from the police, Nirav Shah (49) filed a complaint stating that he received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Bombay High Court. The caller falsely informed Shah that his Aadhaar card had been misused, and a case was about to be registered against him at the Andheri Police Station. The caller then pretended to transfer the call to the Andheri Police.

The call was connected to another individual, who introduced himself as Sachin Patil, an alleged officer from the Andheri Police Station. Patil asked Shah whether he wanted to file the complaint online or offline, and Shah chose the online option.

Soon after, the fraudster initiated a video call, during which he falsely claimed that ₹25 lakh had been transferred from Shah’s bank account to an unknown recipient. The scammers then demanded information about all of Shah’s bank accounts. Shah revealed that he had two bank accounts—one with ₹5.50 lakh and the other with ₹50,000.

A police officer explained that the fraudsters threatened Shah with possible arrest. To avoid this, they instructed him to transfer ₹5 lakh to a designated bank account, assuring him that the money would be returned if no illegal activity was found.

Shah complied and transferred the amount. However, when he realized he had been duped, he approached the Malabar Hill Police, who registered an FIR. The police traced the scam to a bank account in Surat and later arrested the accused, identified as Deepesh Kumar Kumbani (35), a resident of Surat, on September 28.