Mumbai cybercrime police have arrested three individuals accused of duping a local resident of over Rs14 lakh through a fake vehicle auction scam orchestrated via a WhatsApp group.
The accused, Kunal Sanjay Bhai Talasaniya (23), Ajay Manubhai Jhamuriya (19), and Ronit Kamlesh Jadhav (21), all residents of Mumbai, were apprehended following an investigation triggered by a complaint filed by Gurdial Singh. Singh was lured into the scam after receiving a link from an unknown number, which added him to a WhatsApp group called “Bank Auction Vehicle Group.”
Within the group, fraudsters claimed two vehicles were parked in yards at Haridwar (Uttarakhand) and Jammu and were up for auction. After verifying the vehicle locations with his contacts, Singh transferred Rs14,13,890 to various bank accounts shared via the group. However, when his staff attempted to collect the vehicles, they found no such sales had taken place. Singh filed an FIR on March 28.
The cybercrime team caught Kunal Talasaniya near Shanti Niketan, Satrasta, Mumbai. He confessed to opening a fraud-linked bank account on instructions from Ajay Jhamuriya in exchange for a 5% commission. Ajay Jhamuriya was arrested from Satrasta Chowk and revealed he had given KYC documents to a man named Salman, who paid him 7% per transaction. Ronit Jadhav was nabbed near Sai Sharda Building, Jacob Circle, and admitted to creating a bank account passed to a person named Tushar for a 5% cut.
All three accused have been placed on remand for further questioning as investigations continue.
