Retired professor duped of Rs 32.50 lakh using fake ‘ED’ threat

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

Fraudsters successfully duped a retired professor from the Jayasingpura area, of Rs 32.50 lakh by threatening him with arrest and Enforcement Directorate (ED) action. The scam occurred between September 9 and September 18, and a complaint has been filed at Begumpura Police Station against the unidentified callers.

The victim has been identified as prof. Sudam Rajbhoj(87). Prof Rajbhoj, who retired from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, received a video call on the morning of September 9 at 9.30 am from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be from a telecom service, warning that his phone would be blocked. He told prof. Rajbhoj that a complaint had been registered at Colaba Police Station alleging that he had amassed wealth illegally. The fraudster further claimed that the ED would soon begin an inquiry against him and ended the call abruptly.

Soon after, Rajbhoj received another call from a different number. The caller introduced himself as police inspector Sandeep Yadav from Colaba Police Station.

He claimed that Prof. Rajbhoj held an account in Canara Bank containing large sums of money obtained illegally. The caller also mentioned a person named Naresh Goyal and some other individuals who were allegedly transferring money into his account. Despite Prof. Rajbhoj repeatedly stating that he did not know these people, the fraudsters warned that his case would be sent to the ED’s Joint Director and instructed him to prepare an application for the inquiry. Scared and under pressure, the professor complied and drafted the application as instructed. On September 10, the fraudsters called again via video call and asked Prof. Rajbhoj to show a bank cheque. After he presented the cheque, they directed him to transfer Rs 28.50 lakh to an ICICI Bank account. Prof. Rajbhoj followed their instructions and made the transfer. On September 15, they pressured him again to transfer an additional Rs 4 lakh, bringing the total amount taken to Rs 32.50 lakh. Police Inspector Mangesh Jagtap is currently investigating the case.

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Broke FD to pay fraudsters

The cyber criminals also sent the professor a fake Supreme Court letter, warning that he could be arrested anytime if he failed to deposit money. To avoid arrest, they instructed him to break his fixed deposit (FD). Under pressure, Rajbhoj broke his Rs 28.50 lakh FD in HDFC Bank and transferred the amount to a Bank of Maharashtra account. Later, he added another Rs 4 lakh, totaling Rs 32.50 lakh, as stated in his complaint.