Akshay Kumar Gopainkumar, a 26-year-old man, was arrested by the Mumbai North Cyber Police in connection with a Rs61 lakh cyber fraud case that involved well-known Marathi comedian Sagar Karande. While Gopainkumar is not believed to be the mastermind of the scam, he was found to have received a significant portion of the defrauded amount in his bank account.
The victim, a 48-year-old comedian famous for his role in a popular Marathi comedy show, resides in Thakur Complex, Kandivali. On February 23, he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number, offering a part-time job with easy commissions for online tasks.
The message included links, and the comedian clicked on them, which led him to complete simple tasks, such as liking Instagram videos. After the completion of some initial tasks, a small amount of money was deposited into his bank account, which gave him confidence in the legitimacy of the offer.
He was then added to a Telegram group, where he was asked for personal and banking details. After completing ten tasks and receiving Rs11,000, he was encouraged to invest more in “paid tasks,” which promised a 30% return. As the payments kept coming, the comedian invested larger amounts.
At one point, he was shown a fictitious profit of Rs27.51 lakh in the system. When he tried to withdraw the money, the fraudsters claimed that his “task credit score” was only 80 out of 100 and that he needed to complete more tasks before any withdrawal could be made.
To increase his credit score, the comedian invested an additional Rs19.70 lakh. When the score reached 100, he was told he needed to pay a 30% “tax” before the money could be released. Believing the fraudsters, he transferred the additional money, eventually losing a total of Rs61 lakh.
Realizing he had been scammed, the comedian approached the cyber cell and filed a complaint. After a technical investigation, the police traced the fraudulent transactions to Gopainkumar’s bank account. During questioning, Gopainkumar admitted to allowing the cyber fraudsters to use his account. He kept a commission for himself and transferred the bulk of the defrauded money to the actual masterminds of the scam.
The police have also identified other individuals who provided bank accounts for similar scams and are actively working to trace and arrest them.
Gopainkumar was produced before the Borivali court, which remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody. The investigation is ongoing.
