The Central Region Cyber Police Station has arrested three individuals from Thane District for allegedly defrauding a 73-year-old man of Rs3.81 crore. The arrested individuals have been identified as Satish Suryanath Yadav (27), Vikas Ramshankar Maurya (27), and Sachin Krishnanand Chaurasia (23).
The fraudsters are accused of luring the elderly victim into an investment scheme that promised high returns on the stock market. Trusting their false assurances, the victim transferred Rs3.81 crore into their accounts. However, when the promised returns failed to materialize and the victim attempted to withdraw his principal, he realized he had been scammed and subsequently filed a complaint.
Upon receiving the complaint, the police cyber helpline team (1930) partnered with the victim’s bank to trace the fraudulent transactions, successfully freezing Rs15.29 lakh of the stolen money. Officer Mausami Patil from the Central Cyber Police Station stated that Satish Yadav had established a shell company named Shield Associates, where the stolen funds were deposited. He opened the accounts with the help of his accomplice, Vikas Maurya, who rented out these accounts to other cyber fraudsters in exchange for commissions. Sachin Chaurasia, the third accused, provided the SIM card used to set up the fraudulent bank account.
The police investigation revealed that the main accused, Rahul Ladhi, who had masterminded the scam, passed away seven months ago. Despite his death, the police were able to trace the fraudulent transactions and arrest the individuals responsible for executing the scam.
