The Surat Cybercrime Branch has uncovered a massive online insurance fraud in which a 74-year-old retired LIC officer from the Citylight area was cheated out of Rs 1 crore over a period of 10 years.
The accused lured the victim with fake promises regarding his 10 insurance policies from HDFC, LIC, Reliance Life, Future Plus, and Birla Sun Life. Starting in 2014, the victim paid an initial Rs 9.19 lakh premium and later, under instructions from the fraudsters, made 125 payments totaling Rs 1 crore, believing the charges were necessary for the policies to mature.
Fraudsters impersonated insurance advisors including Avinash Sharma, Rajesh Chavla, B K Verma, Vikram Singh Ravat, Gaurang Jaiswal, Aditya Shrivastav, and Priya. They demanded fees for tax, policy activation, NOCs, and TDS, assuring the victim these would be reimbursed upon policy maturity.
The accused further convinced the victim by sending fake letters with official-looking stamps from government departments like RBI, Income Tax, IRDA, and the Ministry of Revenue. This continued from 2017 until December 2024.
During a separate investigation, Surat cybercrime police arrested Sumit from Delhi in another policy fraud case. While examining his accounts, authorities discovered an entry of Rs 36 lakh linked to the senior citizen. The victim was then contacted on April 22 and realized he had been cheated, filing a complaint for the total Rs 1 crore lost.
Police are continuing the investigation to trace all individuals involved and recover the defrauded amount.
