Navi Mumbai businessman duped of Rs 1.25 cr in loan fraud

He said that the accused contacted the Navi Mumbai businessman, who owns a machine tools company in the Rabale MIDC area, between December 2023 and March 2025 and allegedly promised to arrange for business loans of Rs 100 crore and Rs 200 crore.

"In the course of their interactions, the accused fabricated demand drafts and cheques from three different banks and used forged signatures and counterfeit bank seals to gain the complainant's trust and extort money in the guise of loan processing and administrative fees," the official said, reported PTI.

He said the Navi Mumbai businessman reportedly transferred Rs 1.25 crore into various bank accounts linked to the accused, but no loan ever materialised.

The case was registered against the accused, Dhanesh Deshmukh (44), Pramila Lad (65), Prashant alias Raju Pillai, and Pushpa Gupte, the official said, adding that no one has been arrested so far, reported PTI.

Thane police bust 'digital arrest' fraud with overseas links; 3 held for duping woman of Rs 3 cr

In another case, the police have arrested three persons, allegedly linked to an international fraud syndicate, for cheating an elderly woman in Maharashtra's Thane city of more than Rs 3 crore after keeping her under "digital arrest", officials said on Sunday, reported PTI.

The 61-year-old woman received a call on August 13, 2024, from some persons posing as courier company personnel, claiming they had seized her parcel containing a laptop, 140 grams of MD (drug) powder, a Thai passport, three credit cards and four kg of cloth items, they said.

Soon after, an individual impersonating a "CBI officer" called the victim from a different number in a bid to verify her identity. The fraudster displayed some fabricated documents and coerced her into transferring funds after keeping her under "digital arrest", as per the police, reported PTI.

The woman later transferred Rs 3.04 crore into two different accounts at separate nationalised banks, the police said in a release.

"The audacity of the accused is evident in how they exploited the victim's trust by masquerading as high-ranking officials," Deputy Commissioner of Police Parag Manere said, reported PTI.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on September 13 last year under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 318(4) (cheating), 316(5) (criminal breach of trust), 336(3) (forgery) and 340(2) (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine), as well as relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.

An extensive probe by the Thane cyber police uncovered links to an international syndicate as the fraudsters managed to transfer Rs 82.46 lakh overseas, with the funds allegedly converted into US dollars (VDA- virtual digital asset), the police said, reported PTI.

The investigation led to the arrest of three persons on June 19. They have been identified as Kishore Bansilal Jain (63), chairman of the Sri Satkar Pathpedi (co-op credit society) in Mumbai, Mahesh Pawan Kothari (36), associated with the garment and imitation jewellery business, and Dhaval Santosh Bhalerao (26), involved in the cosmetics business, the release said, reported PTI.

"The accused had meticulously crafted their story (for the victim) to induce panic and confusion. The cross-border nature of the transaction underscores the complexity and reach of the modern financial fraud," Manere said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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