Mumbai: Woman duped of Rs 17 lakh by fraudsters posing as insurance company executives

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Posing as executives of an insurance company, fraudsters allegedly cheated a 93-year-old woman from Khar in Mumbai of Rs 17.74 lakh on the pretext of reviving her insurance policy that had been foreclosed, police said on Wednesday.

The incident came to light on Monday evening, when the complainant along with her caretaker approached the Khar police station and lodged a complaint, an official said.

"The victim, who was gynaecologist by profession and owns a nursing home, was interested in investing money in an insurance policy. The insurance policy had a quarterly premium of Rs 50,000," he said.

Due to the mismatch of signature, the cheques meant for two premiums got bounced, leading to the foreclosure of the policy, the official said. After a few days, a woman who introduced herself as Swati Pandey and as an executive of the insurance policy company, assured that she will help revive the foreclosed policy on payment of Rs 35,000, he said.

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Accordingly, the victim paid that amount into the bank account as instructed by the caller. To get her invested money back speedily, the caller asked the elderly woman to speak to her seniors, who told the victim to deposit Rs 97,200, the police official said.

The victim followed their instructions and deposited the amount via RTGS. The accused cited different reasons from time to time and duped the senior citizen to the tune of Rs 17.74 lakh between November 16 last year and January 2023.

"After paying in lakhs, he victim did not got her money back, due to which she informed about the insurance company executives to her daughter, who stays in the USA. Her daughter told her that she has been cheated by fraudsters and asked her to lodge a police complaint," the official said.

Accordingly the woman went to police station and filed a complaint, following which an FIR of cheating under section 34, 406, 420 of IPC has been registered against unidentified fraudsters, he said adding probe is underway.

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