Fraudsters first offered south Mumbai businesswoman a job liking videos and then lured her into investing several lakhs, police estimate total worth of scam to be Rs 3 crore
The police traced a bank account in which the complainant had deposited Rs 14.50 lakh. Representation pic
South Mumbai’s cyber cell arrested two individuals on Saturday, one of whom is a lawyer, allegedly involved in a cyber fraud worth Rs 3 crore. After the arrest, the police froze Rs 14 lakh found in one of the bank accounts of the alleged accused. In August 2023, complainant Hemangi Jhunjhunwala, 47, approached south Mumbai’s cyber cell to register a case against a girl named Arya. Jhunjhunwala lives in Walkeshwar and works out of an office in Fort. She runs a business importing synthetic rubber.
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Jhunjhunwala told police that Arya sent her a message on WhatsApp, offering a part-time job of liking videos on YouTube. Convinced by the offer, Jhunjhunwala joined the part-time work and received returns for liking videos initially.
Then, Jhunjhunwala was told of an opportunity wherein if she paid Arya money and also liked videos, she would get returns on her investment. Accordingly, Jhunjhunwala paid Arya a total of Rs 55.35 lakh in different bank accounts through multiple transactions.
After some time, however, Jhunjhunwala stopped receiving the payments. Distressed by this, she approached the Mumbai police’s cyber cell to register the FIR.
During investigations, the police probed one bank account in which Jhunjhunwala had deposited Rs 14.50 lakh. The bank account, owned by Kanchan General Store, was traced to Nagpur. The police travelled to the city and found its owner to be someone named Kanchan Meshram.
Meshram said that her friend, Salma Ali, opened a bank account by using her identity documents. Meshram claimed that Ali used the account for fraudulent purposes. Accordingly, a separate FIR was registered against lawyer Salma Sujat Ali, 38, and Gajendra Ekunkar, 39, at Pardi Police Station in Nagpur on October 15, for using someone else’s identity to open and operate a bank account.
It was also revealed that Ali was speaking to Jhunjhunwala by posing as Arya. Subsequent investigation revealed that the total worth of the scam orchestrated by Ali and Ekunkar was Rs 3 crore. Of this Rs 55.35 lakh belonged to Jhunjhunwala.
“During investigations, we found that R17 lakh was transferred by Ali and Ekunkar to a single bank account, which was promptly frozen. The account currently has Rs 14 lakh,” an officer said. After their arrest in Nagpur on Saturday, the duo was presented in court on “Sunday morning and remanded to police custody until January 4, 2024.
Rs 55.35L
Amount paid by complainant in different accounts
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