Medical student loses Rs 60k to online fraudsters in fake money laundering scam

Thiruvananthapuram: A 27-year-old student at medical college hospital was duped by online fraudsters in a fake money laundering case. The fraudsters stole Rs 60,000 from her after threatening her with arrest in a fake money laundering case.

The fraudsters first sent a soft copy of a court summons titled ‘The Court of Judicial Magistrate of First Class Mumbai,' to the student's WhatsApp number. They then contacted her stating that a transaction worth Rs 25 lakh has occurred through her bank account. It was also stated that the amount was used for terrorism activities, and she was asked to cooperate with the probe.

The woman claimed that she did not own such a bank account, but the informer replied that Mumbai police have registered a case and directed her to get ready for an interrogation. "I took it seriously and cooperated with the probe. A police officer later contacted me through a video call and asked me to send a soft copy of my Aadhar card. After some time, I was told that there are multiple accounts in my name and transactions worth crores of rupees took place through the account. They then said they wanted to verify the money in the account. I was asked to Google Pay the money in my account, and I panicked and followed their instructions believing their promise that it would be returned when the probe was over. A few hours later, they contacted me again asking for Rs 1 lakh, and this made me suspicious. I soon approached the police with a complaint," said the victim.

On the complaint of the victim, city cyber police began a probe after registering a case under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 318 (4) for cheating, 319 (2) for cheating by personation, 336 (2) for forgery, 336 (3) forgery for the purpose of cheating, and 340 (2) for fraudulent use of a forged document, and 66D of the Information Technology Act.