A 24-year-old man, Mohit Bhojraj, was arrested by the Cyber Police in connection with a Rs67 lakh fraud, where a farmer’s bank account was misused to funnel money swindled from two elderly women in Girgaon.
The victims, two elderly sisters, had invested in mutual funds through a financial services company. On January 16, one of the sisters was added to a WhatsApp group named after the company. The group admin, an alleged “investment advisor” named Shruti Baheti, offered her a lucrative deal to invest in a block shares transaction.
Baheti sent official-looking communications, including an account creation letter with the company’s logo and stamp, which reassured the woman. Encouraged by these communications, she downloaded a specified app in March, initially investing Rs50,000. Her app account showed a steady increase in profits, convincing her to invest more.
When the second sister learned about the app, she also contacted Baheti for investment opportunities. Both women together invested a total of Rs67.15 lakh. However, when they tried to withdraw Rs50 lakh on April 5, Baheti claimed they would face high taxes and penalties.
It wasn’t long before they realized they had been defrauded as they couldn’t withdraw any money. The sisters reached out to the Cyber helpline (1930) for assistance, which led to an FIR being filed with the South Region Cyber Police on April 24.
Investigations revealed that around Rs16 lakh of their funds had been transferred to a bank account linked to an agricultural enterprise. The account was operated by Mohit Bhojraj from Dahisar, who had collected bank account details from 19 other individuals. These accounts were likely used to launder the money stolen from other victims in similar online scams.
Bhojraj’s associate, based in Mangalore, is still on the run, and police are actively pursuing leads to track him down. Authorities suspect that many more individuals may have been targeted in this broader cyber fraud operation.
