Surat, Oct 30 (IANS) Three persons, including a 64-year-old retired professor, have been arrested for allegedly cheating a senior citizen doctor of around Rs 1.50 crore over eight years by promising refunds on insurance policies, with the police tracing the accused to Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh using a single mobile number that had since been switched off.
The Surat City Cyber Crime Cell said on Friday that the accused had posed as representatives of the Insurance Ombudsman and persuaded the complainant to purchase around 15 insurance policies in 2018.
After gaining his trust, they allegedly contacted him over the last two to three years, claiming that the money invested in his policies could be refunded if he paid various charges.
The complainant was allegedly made to transfer money in small instalments of Rs 10,000, Rs 15,000, Rs 25,000 and other amounts. “Over the period from 2018 to 2026, he lost approximately Rs 1,50,33,004 (Rs 1.50 crore),” police said.
The complainant approached the cybercrime police around two to three months ago. Investigators examined the mobile numbers from which he had received calls and WhatsApp messages and conducted technical analysis of their call detail records.
A team subsequently spent a week in Ghaziabad tracing the accused on the basis of a single calling number, which had become inactive.
The arrested accused have been identified as Atulkumar Sharma (64), a retired professor who holds BSc and MBA degrees and had worked at IMT College; Mahesh Sharma (43), who has worked in vehicle loan arrangements, electricity meter reading and as a salesman for an Ayurvedic medicine company; and Sonu Thakur (32), a Class 12 pass-out who had previously worked as a telecaller at a call centre.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) Bishakha Jain, Atulkumar allegedly arranged SIM cards and bank accounts by approaching financially needy people on the pretext of helping them obtain gas connections.
“He got accounts opened in their names and retained the SIM cards, net banking credentials, passwords and bank kits before passing the SIM cards to Mahesh Sharma,” she said.
Mahesh allegedly forwarded the SIM cards and bank account details to Sonu Thakur, who used different mobile handsets to contact insurance policyholders and demand money on the pretext of processing refunds.
Jain said, “Sonu had worked in the call centre operations of insurance companies since 2018 and was familiar with the process of obtaining policyholder data.”
During searches, police recovered around 70 pages of printed Excel sheets containing insurance policyholders’ details.
The sheets had markings indicating which people had already been contacted and which were yet to be approached. “The accused used these sheets to identify and call different victims. They would tell them that if they wanted their insurance policy money back, they would have to deposit a certain amount towards charges,” Jain added.
The money deposited by victims was withdrawn through the bank accounts arranged by Atulkumar.
He allegedly retained 35 to 50 per cent of the withdrawn amount as commission and passed the rest to Mahesh, who kept another 15 to 20 per cent before transferring the remaining amount to Sonu.
Police recovered nine mobile phones, 42 cheque books, 17 passbooks, 90 debit cards, 25 SIM cards of different companies, around 80 empty SIM card trays and Rs 28,740 in cash from Atulkumar.
Two mobile phones were seized from Mahesh. From Sonu, police recovered three mobile phones, Rs 1.77 lakh in cash and 70 printouts containing policyholder details.
Investigators also identified 47 bank accounts linked to Atulkumar on the basis of the cheque books and passbooks recovered from his residence.
A check of these accounts on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) revealed 73 complaints registered across 15 states, involving alleged online fraud of approximately Rs 33.10 lakh.
Telangana accounted for the highest number of complaints at 15, followed by Tamil Nadu with 14, Maharashtra with seven, Karnataka and Goa with six each, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan with five each, and Bihar with four.
Gujarat accounted for three complaints, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh two each, while Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Tripura had one complaint each.
“The complaints could involve other cyber fraud groups as well, as such gangs were suspected of sharing policyholder data,” DCP Bishakha Jain said.
She said insurance policy frauds of this nature were frequently reported from Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad, where different groups allegedly exchanged data to target policyholders.
The case has been registered under Sections 319(2), 318(4), 336(2), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 61(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, 2008.
The police have advised insurance policyholders not to respond to unsolicited calls promising bonuses or refunds on policies and to verify such claims directly with the insurance company.
–IANS
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