Mumbai: Retired Woman Duped of ₹91 Lakh in ‘Money Laundering’ Scam; One Arrested

In a shocking case of cyber fraud, a 63-year-old retired woman from Dahisar was allegedly cheated of nearly ₹91 lakh by fraudsters posing as police officials and threatening her with arrest in a fake money laundering case. The North Regional Cyber Cell has arrested a 49-year-old accused, identified as Karan Suresh Kansaria, for his alleged role in the scam.

According to police, the accused Kansaria provided bank accounts to cyber fraudsters to facilitate the scam, and a portion of the defrauded money was traced to his account. He is currently in police custody and is being interrogated.

An official revealed that the fraudsters also invoked the name of encounter specialist Daya Nayak to intimidate the victim.

The complainant, a pensioner residing in Dahisar, received a call on February 18 from a man identifying himself as Ajay Patil, claiming to be a police officer from Indiranagar Police Station in Bengaluru, Karnataka. He asked her to join a video call, during which another individual appeared in police uniform.

The fraudsters falsely claimed that during a police raid, a person named Sadafat Khan was arrested, and several Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, and debit cards were recovered, including one allegedly linked to the victim. They accused her of involvement in a ₹3 crore money laundering transaction and claimed she had received a commission of ₹75,000.

Despite her denial of having any such bank account, the fraudsters continued to harass and interrogate her between February 18 and 24, extracting details about her finances, investments, family members, and assets.

Later, another individual posing as Daya Nayak contacted her, threatening arrest if she failed to cooperate. The fraudsters instructed her not to share the matter with anyone and claimed she was under constant surveillance.

They sent her fake official documents with government seals and coerced her into transferring her savings and fixed deposits into a “designated” bank account for verification purposes.

Frightened by the threats, the woman broke her fixed deposits and transferred ₹85 lakh along with her savings, totaling ₹91 lakh, into the accounts provided by the fraudsters.

On March 15, her daughter visited her and, upon learning about the incident, informed her that police do not conduct such inquiries online. Realizing she had been duped, the victim approached the cyber helpline and lodged a complaint with the North Cyber Cell police.

A case was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act.

Under the supervision of Police Inspector Kiran Aher, the investigation team traced the bank accounts involved in the transaction. It was found that a portion of the defrauded amount had been transferred to Kansaria’s account.

Based on this, police detained him from Bhayandar for questioning. During interrogation, he confessed to providing his bank account to cyber fraudsters and transferring the received money to them in exchange for a commission.

Following these findings, Kansaria was formally arrested. Further investigation is underway to identify and apprehend other members of the cyber fraud network.