Victim Scammed With Aadhaar, Skype Calls
Three ‘masterminds’ disappear...two 'workers' arrested, released on bail, writes Nandini Rao
In the digital age, online scams have become the order of the day. Despite the prevalence of offences committed through popular platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and SMS, there are still scams that are executed solely through phone calls, often laced with online threats and banking scams to ensnare unsuspecting individuals.
The police face an uphill battle as criminals engage in anonymous transactions, employ intermediaries to commit crimes, and even utilise a plethora of platforms including Aadhaar, Skype to convince their victims before vanishing, even leaving behind misleading trails to delay detection.
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| Online scams have become the order of the day |
On a seemingly ordinary morning of 24 July 2023 at 9.08 am, Sneha Yogesh Shah, a resident of Juhu in Western Mumbai, received a call that would turn her world upside down.
The caller introduced himself as one Rahul Sharma, a Custom Officer, and informed her that a parcel dispatched to Malaysia via Blue Dart company had been intercepted.
The parcel allegedly contained tiger body parts and nails that were being illegally transported and had her Aadhaar card attached to it. Sneha was taken aback as she had no knowledge of any such parcel.
Rahul Sharma suggested that someone might have misused her documents and assured her that he would inform the emergency police control who would then contact her for further details. He then handed over the call to his colleague Sameer Rao who asked Sneha to download Skype for further communication.
Sameer Rao managed to gain Sneha’s trust and started discussing money laundering rules. He even threatened her with severe consequences if she failed to cooperate. He sent her a link to the Supreme Court of India’s website where he asked her to check her case status. However, the link redirected to another site.
Soon after, another person claiming to be one Subodhkumar Jaiswal from ‘Mumbai CBI’ contacted her via Skype. He introduced himself as the investigating officer handling her case and informed her that a warrant had been issued against her name. To cancel the warrant, she was instructed to deposit an amount into an RBI account for investigation purposes. If she was found innocent, the amount would be refunded to her; otherwise, it would have to be forfeited.
He even threatened to book her in a money laundering case and provided her with the account details of an ICICI Bank Current Account named FDRBI.
Sneha, by now fully convinced by their authenticity, transferred Rs 2,14,465 into this account in two instalments - first Rs 1,64,465 followed by another Rs 50,000 for a bail bond. It was only later when she narrated the entire incident to a friend who informed her that she had been defrauded that she approached the Juhu police.
The Juhu Police registered an FIR under IPC Section 420, 419 and IT Act Sections 66(c) and (d). Upon investigation with bank officials, the police discovered that the account belonged to Riyan Enterprises owned by Sagar who had a registered office at Saibaba Mandir, Bhayander East. When they reached there on 24 July 2023 they found two persons - Sagar Ankush Mane from Indore and Ashok Mahavir Acharya from Rajasthan - in the office who were immediately arrested.
Upon examining the account, the police found a staggering balance of Rs 4,03,90,062. However, as the investigation unfolded over the next four hours, the account balance shockingly dwindled to zero. “Among the 30-odd items recovered by the police, only Aadhaar Card and PAN card of my client Ashok Acharya were found,” stated the lawyer of one of the accused.
"Further probing led to the discovery that the original owner of the ICICI bank account was one Aman Dilip Sarvodaya, a resident of Indore in Madhya Pradesh. It was revealed that Sagar had been employed by Aman Dilip Sarvodaya from Indore while Ashok was hired by a man named Kallu from Rajasthan. Both were tasked with opening bank accounts for people, oblivious to the fact that these accounts were being used for money laundering.
Ashok Acharya was lured into this operation by Kallu under the pretence of working for his cloth trading company for a monthly salary of Rs 10,000. He was also promised an additional Rs 1,50,000 to settle an old debt in his village in Rajasthan. Unaware of Kallu’s ulterior motives, Ashok began working in his office only since the last two months prior to this incident," added the lawyer.
The two accused were presented before Metropolitan Magistrate 10th Court Andheri on 25 July 2023 and were remanded in police custody. However, both Ashok Acharya and Sagar Mane have recently been released on bail.
Meanwhile, the other accused individuals - Kallu from Rajasthan, Aman Dilip Sarvodaya and Mukesh Sharma aka Sadhu Baba - remain at large.
thedraft@draftcraft.in
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