Mumbai: Railway Engineer Duped of Rs 9 Lakh by Cyber Fraudster

In a shocking case of cyber fraud, a 59-year-old man working as the Principal Chief Electrical Engineer (Construction) in the Railways has been duped of ₹9 lakh by fraudsters. The scammers intimidated the victim by falsely claiming that ₹5.7 million linked to money laundering had been transferred into his bank account. They further alleged that these transactions were directly connected to the Naresh Goyal case. Under the guise of investigating his bank account, the fraudsters extorted ₹9 lakh from the victim.

According to Colaba Police, the victim has an office at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and resides in the Railway Officers' Quarters at Budhwar Park. In his statement to the police, the victim recounted that while he was in his office on Monday, he received a voice message stating that his bank account was about to be blocked. To gather more information, he was asked to press zero and speak to the concerned person.

Upon pressing zero, a video call commenced, and the person on the other side identified himself as a CBI officer investigating a cybercrime case. The caller also introduced two individuals, Jay Agnihotri and Vikas Khanna, claiming they were CBI officers as well. The fraudsters informed the victim that an FIR had been registered against him, and a bank account in his name at Canara Bank was allegedly being used for money laundering. They further claimed that 247 bank accounts were linked to his account.

The fraudsters then instructed the victim to go home immediately, following which he complied. Upon reaching his home, they video-called him again, asking about the number of family members and details of his bank accounts.

Throughout the video call, the scammers kept the victim engaged, telling him he was being presented in court. They made a voice call, pretending to be in court, and informed the victim that a judge was asking how many bank accounts he held. The fraudsters even questioned him about his relationship with Naresh Goyal. The victim provided details of his bank accounts and clarified that he did not know Naresh Goyal.

The caller then told the victim that the judge had ordered an investigation into all his bank accounts. They instructed him to transfer ₹9 lakh from his account to a specified account for investigation purposes. When the online transfer failed, the victim physically went to the bank and completed the transfer of ₹9 lakh via RTGS to the fraudsters' account.

A police officer reported that after transferring the money, the victim grew suspicious and discussed the matter with the bank manager. It was then that he realized he had been defrauded. Subsequently, he filed a complaint with the Colaba Police Station. The police have registered an FIR under various sections of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita and IT Act, and an investigation is underway.