Maharashtra: 47-year-old man from Nagpur held for duping people of lakhs through task fraud

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A 47-year-old man from Nagpur was held for duping people of lakhs through task fraud, the Navi Mumbai Police said on Saturday, reported the PTI.

The Navi Mumbai police arrested the suspect for allegedly luring people to perform tasks online and later duping them of lakhs, an official said on Saturday.

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Officials of the cyber cell of Navi Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested the suspect who has been identified as Subash Prajapati, who along with his associates, allegedly cheated people from across the country, senior inspector Gajanan Kadam said, as per the PTI.

According to the police, a Navi Mumbai resident had lodged a complaint alleging that he had lost Rs 18.58 lakh to a man who had lured him to perform tasks online by promising him good returns.

A case under sections 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act was registered, the official said.

During the probe, the police examined bank accounts to which the money had been transferred and the mobile phone numbers associated with the crime and zeroed in on the accused, he said.

The arrested accused and his associates had allegedly opened different bank accounts across the country, and an amount to the tune of Rs 11.10 lakh has been frozen in these accounts, the official said, adding that the police are probing the extent of the fraud and tracking down others involved in the crime.

Meanwhile, in an another incident, earlier this week, a 34-year-old man from Panvel in Maharashtra's Raigad district lost nearly Rs 22 lakh after he was lured into investing the amount into an e-commerce business, police said, reported news agency PTI.

The incident occurred between May and June 2023, they said, reported PTI.

"The victim had joined a WhatsApp group in the first week of May. One of the group members lured him into investing money into an e-commerce website, saying that it was necessary for delivery of different items on sale on the platform. He was also told that his money would be returned in a month," a police official said, reported PTI.

The other person later sent him a screenshot that articles worth USD 56,000 have been sold on the platform, he said, reported PTI.

In his complaint, the victim said he had transferred Rs 21,97,350 to the unidentified accused, which he was never got back, reported PTI.

The case was registered at the Cyber Police Station in Navi Mumbai, reported PTI.

(with PTI inputs)