The caller promised to get the complainant Rs 58 lakh by facilitating the premature closure of his insurance policy, an official said
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A 49-year-old man allegedly lost Rs 2.24 crore to insurance fraud in Maharashtra's Raigad district, an official said on Thursday, reported the PTI.
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In his complaint to the police, the resident of Kamothe, near Mumbai, said he lost the money over three years, the official said, according to the PTI.
The man, whose occupation was recorded as service by the police, allegedly received a call before August 2020 from a person who claimed to be from insurance regulator IRDAI's Integrated Grievance Management System, earlier known as IGMS.
The caller promised to get the complainant Rs 58 lakh by facilitating the premature closure of his insurance policy, the official said citing the first information report (FIR).
Between August 2020 and July 31, the fraudster smooth-talked the complainant to shell out nearly Rs 2.24 crore under the pretext of several procedural fees and taxes, the official said.
However, when the caller started giving evasive replies to the complainant's repeated demands for the promised Rs 58 lakh against his policy, the latter realised he had been cheated. He filed a police complaint on Tuesday, he said.
The Kamothe police have registered a case under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act, he said, adding that no one has been arrested yet.
Meanwhile, in an another incident, a bank manager lost Rs 5.10 lakh in an online cyber fraud while she was trying to sell a few of her household items in Nagpur, the PTI reported earlir this week.
The 31-year-old victim Smita Vishwas uploaded details of a refrigerator and sofa which she wanted to sell.
"As soon as she filled up the details, she got a call from a person who said he wanted to buy the items," the police official said.
"The accused asked her to send Rs 60 as an initial verification transaction. After she did so, he withdrew Rs 1.01 lakh from her account. In the name of refunding this amount, she again paid Rs 9,000 and the accused withdrew Rs 5.10 lakh in all," he said.
According to the police, a case was lodged under Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act provisions and efforts are on to nab the culprit.
(with PTI inputs)