The Cyber Crime Cell of the Pimpri Chinchwad police has arrested four individuals, including two businessmen from Gujarat, in connection with a cyber scam that defrauded a woman of Rs 25 lakh. The suspects allegedly managed bank accounts utilized in the crime and directed funds to their international cyber masterminds.
The investigation originated from a case filed at the Hinjewadi police station, where a woman was deceived by cyber criminals posing as executives of an international courier company and officials from the narcotics department. She was misled into believing that a parcel sent in her name to Iran contained drugs, fake credit cards, and expired Iranian passports. Under the pretext of account verification, the complainant was coerced into transferring Rs 25 lakh to various fraudulent accounts.
The probe led investigators to an account located in the Kopargaon area of Ahmednagar, belonging to Swaroop Khambekar, a 42-year-old dairy businessman facing financial difficulties. Further investigation revealed three additional suspects: Pushkar Pakhale (35) from Jalgaon, Monik Rangolia (37) from Surat, and Kausik Burad (36), also from Surat.
According to an officer from the cyber crime cell, “Our investigation found that Khambekar held an account used in the scam, while the others helped funnel the money to international cyber criminals via cryptocurrency. We have traced transactions exceeding Rs 2 crore across these accounts, which have been flagged in 68 separate cyber crime cases nationwide.”
In these “drugs in parcel” scams, victims are contacted by fake executives from international courier services, who falsely claim that drugs have been discovered in parcels sent to them. Victims are informed that they are under police investigation and are instructed to communicate via Skype with fraudulent profiles posing as law enforcement officials, including impersonations of IPS officers. Victims are pressured into transferring money for various reasons, such as customs fees or legal charges, while being threatened that their bank accounts are at risk from hackers. Often, callers intimidate victims by claiming they are being surveilled.
