Thane man cheated of Rs 1.75 lakh in cyber fraud; 1 person booked

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A 33-year-old man from Maharashtra's Thane district has been allegedly cheated of Rs 1.75 lakh by a fraudster who threatened action against him for various offences, police said on Sunday, reported news agency PTI.

Based on a complaint by the man, a case was registered on Saturday against one person under relevant provisions, an official from Ambernath police station said, reported PTI.

On May 21, the Thane man received a call from a person who informed him that a parcel which he had sent to Iran was seized by the Customs officials as it contained drugs, besides a laptop, pen drives, clothes and four Iranian passports, reported PTI.

The caller also informed the Thane man that a payment of Rs 96,000 was already made for it and the parcel was returned to the courier company, the police said quoting the complaint, reported PTI.

When the Thane man informed the caller that he had not sent any such parcel, the latter asked him to approach the Mumbai cyber police and lodge a complaint of misuse of his ID.

The caller also told the man that the police would arrest him if he gets late in approaching them.

Later, the caller arranged for a Skype video call and a person on the other side showed his ID and not his face and claimed to be from the narcotics department, the official said, reported PTI.

The alleged imposter informed the man that a number of complaints of money laundering had been registered against him in Gujarat, West Bengal and Mumbai and his name was also linked to a person arrested earlier for such offence, he said, reported PTI.

He also told the man that all his bank accounts had been blocked by authorities.

He then sought details of a bank account of the victim to get his accounts reactivated by the RBI and allegedly siphoned off Rs 1.75 lakh from the account, the official said, reported PTI.

The man later realised he was cheated and approached the Ambernath police.

(With inputs from PTI)