Hanamkonda industrialist duped of Rs.28.5 lakh by cyber criminals posing as CBI officers

Reports indicate that on October 2, an industrialist received a call from a woman claiming to be an official from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). She informed him that his Aadhar card was not linked to his mobile phone number and mentioned that her superiors would contact him before ending the call.

Warangal: Cyber cheats duped a prominent industrialist from Hanamkonda of Rs. 28.50 lakh by masquerading as members of a CBI team probing money laundering. The incident came to light after the industrialist lodged a complaint with the local cybercrime officials.

According to reports, the industrialist received a call from a woman on October 2, who introduced herself as an official from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and told him that his Aadhar card was not linked to his mobile phone number. She said that her superiors would talk to him and hung up the phone.

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After a while, another woman called and introduced herself as a CBI Mumbai branch officer and made a WhatsApp video call and showed the setting similar to the CBI office to prove that she was not a fraud and that she was calling from the probe agency. She said that the industrialist was involved in money laundering and the CBI had registered a case against him. A person named Naresh Goyal had told the CBI that he paid a commission of Rs. 18.16 lakh to him for laundering Rs. 6.8 crore, she said, adding that the CBI officers would reach his office at Hanamkonda anytime and arrest him.

The woman asked the industrialist to transfer the money currently in his bank to the account indicated by her and told him that after the investigation of the case was completed, it would be deposited in his account. Fearing arrest, the industrialist transferred Rs. 28.50 lakh from his two bank accounts to the said account.

However, after sometime when he tried the number it was switched off. Soon he realised that he was cheated and approached the police. The police have registered a case and started an investigation.