MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has initiated a probe against two inter-state cybercrime networks which cheated two female citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) of lakhs of rupees through elaborate deception. The first victim was duped while looking for a wedding dress on online platforms while the second one was induced to pay for what she believed would get her nephew out of jail.
In the first case in July 2024, the networks targeted a Manchester-based woman and duped her of £ 2,641.87, or ₹2.72 lakh as “payment” in lieu of providing her with the wedding dress she was looking for on online platforms. The victim was contacted by an unidentified member of the network, offering to get the dress delivered to her at her address, and he also provided his own bank account details for the payment, according to CBI officials.
The unidentified accused also asked the victim to pay an additional fee towards postage. The victim subsequently received a purported message on an instant messaging service from a reputed courier firm requesting for further payment of £ 486 towards delivery charges of the wedding dress. Later, the victim received another message purportedly from the same courier firm, informing her that the parcel had been delivered to her. However, she did not receive any parcel.
The proceeds of crime worth ₹2.72 lakh were later withdrawn from the bank account where the payment was made by the victim. The money was withdrawn through banking channels allegedly by the network’s six members staying in India. The fund’s trail was traced to bank accounts located in India.
In the second instance of alleged fraud, also in July 2024, an unidentified person contacted another UK citizen through an online platform while posing as her Canada-based nephew. The accused sought £3, 000, or ₹3.68 lakh, from her in order to “get out of jail”. Subsequently, the victim came to know that she had been scammed of £3,000, and it was not her nephew who had called.
The CBI registered a case on January 26 against the accused fraudsters under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Information Technology Act pertaining to criminal conspiracy, cheating and cheating by personation by means of communication device or computer resource. The First Information Report was registered against eight persons allegedly connected to the two fraud networks, R Singh, G Singh, M Singh, K Singh, S Kaur, A Singh, V Kumar, M Ruksak and other unknown persons.
The probe is at an initial stage and will proceed to identify the networks’ key operators and the exact roles of the accused persons involved in the two scamming instances, CBI sources said.