Dahisar Police in Mumbai crack down on cyber fraud after senior citizens lose Rs 14.48 lakh; three held

Dahisar Police in Mumbai have arrested three people in two separate cyber fraud cases involving senior citizens with investigators probing their alleged links to wider fraud networksThe two cases involved different methods of cybercrime In one a 68yearold Borivali resident allegedly lost nearly Rs 10 lakh after installing a malicious APK file sent by fraudsters posing as representatives of Mahanagar Gas Limited In the second a 71yearold Dahisar woman allegedly lost Rs 45 lakh after being threatened with arrest in a fake moneylaundering case police saidSenior citizen loses Rs 998 lakh after installing fake gas bill appIn the first case police arrested Aryan Rajesh Gupta 21 from Jogeshwari and Ankit Sanjay Tiwari 24 from VasaiAccording to the police the victim a 68yearold resident of Borivali East received a call on July 25 from a man who identified himself as Vinay Sharma and claimed to represent Mahanagar Gas LimitedThe caller allegedly told the senior citizen that his gas connection would be disconnected unless his bill details were updatedThe accused allegedly then sent an APK file to the victims mobile phone claiming it would help him update his gas bill After the victim installed the application the fraudsters allegedly gained unauthorised access to his phone and carried out financial transactionsPolice said around Rs 998 lakh was withdrawn from the victims bank accountsDuring the investigation officers allegedly traced Rs 349 lakh to a Canara Bank account linked to Gupta and another Rs 2 lakh to an ICICI Bank account allegedly linked to TiwariInvestigators suspect that the accused opened bank accounts using their own details and used them to receive and handle money allegedly obtained through cyber fraudA case was registered at Dahisar Police Station on August 2 under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology ActPolice are now investigating whether the two arrested men were connected to a larger network involved in APKbased cyber fraud71yearold woman threatened with lsquodigital arrestrsquoIn the second case police arrested Dhirajkumar Kesaram Prajapati 28 from KamathipuraThe case involves a 71yearold Dahisar woman who allegedly received calls between July 2 and 3 from people claiming to be senior police officialsAccording to the police one of the callers introduced himself as ldquoRajesh Mishrardquo and claimed that a moneylaundering case had been registered against the womanThe fraudsters allegedly threatened to arrest her and kept her under constant observation through WhatsApp video calls They also allegedly obtained information about her bank accounts and balancesFearing arrest the woman allegedly transferred Rs 45 lakh to an IndusInd Bank account associated with Mahakal Enterprises following instructions from the callersDuring the investigation police traced the bank account and the email ID linked to it Technical and field investigations allegedly led officers to Prajapati who was subsequently arrestedPolice allege that Prajapati deposited or handled the Rs 45 lakh through a bank account linked to an email ID that had been created and accessed using his mobile phoneInvestigators are continuing their search for other people who may have been involved in the alleged fraudPolice warn citizens against malicious APK filesThe two cases highlight two common methods used by cyber fraudsters malicious APK applications and fake police or lsquodigital arrestrsquo threatsPolice have warned citizens not to install APK files received through WhatsApp SMS or other unknown sources Fraudsters may claim that the application is needed to update a bank account gas connection bill or government serviceInstalling such applications can potentially give criminals access to sensitive information and in some cases the device itselfDo not believe fake lsquodigital arrestrsquo callsPolice have also warned people against callers who claim that a police or moneylaundering case has been registered against them and threaten them with arrestOfficials have stressed that genuine police officers do not demand money through video calls or ask citizens to transfer funds to settle or clear a criminal caseCitizens who receive such calls should remain calm avoid sharing banking details or passwords and should not transfer money to the callersSuspected cyber fraud should be reported immediately by calling 1930 or through the governments cybercrime reporting portalInvestigation continuesThe operations were carried out under the guidance of DCP Gajanan Deshmane North Division and ACP Jayraj Ranware Dahisar DivisionOfficers and personnel from the Dahisar cyber police including API Sandeep Pachangne and the police stations investigation and cyber teams conducted technical and field investigationsPolice said further investigation is underway to identify the wider network allegedly operating behind the two frauds and to trace other people who may be involved