The South Region Cyber Police arrested Umashankar Agarwal (40) from his New Delhi residence for his alleged involvement in a Rs2.2 crore provident fund (PF) scam targeting a 72-year-old share trader from South Mumbai.
Police said the fraud began in April 2024 when the victim was contacted by scammers claiming to be PF officials. They promised the release of his father’s pending Rs1.68 lakh PF amount in exchange for a processing fee of Rs30,000. Believing them to be genuine, the victim complied and, over the next year, transferred a total of Rs2.2 crore in 48 transactions to accounts controlled by the accused.
Investigations revealed that Agarwal had provided four of his bank accounts to the wanted accused, Rajesh Sharma, who retained the bank kits (debit cards, passbooks, and cheque books). Agarwal received a 2% commission for each transaction, while the victim’s money was deposited into the accounts he rented out.
DCP (Cyber) Purushottam Karad and senior inspector Nandkumar Gopale supervised the probe. “We have frozen around 50 bank accounts connected to this case and recovered critical evidence pointing to the involvement of multiple accomplices,” a police official said.
The complainant, residing in Nana Chowk, was initially contacted by a woman named Ritika Sharma, who asked for the processing fee to release the PF. Subsequently, the wanted accused repeatedly extorted money under various pretexts, ultimately defrauding him of Rs2.2 crore.
The case underscores the increasing sophistication of PF-related cyber frauds and the risk posed by renting bank accounts to criminals. The Cyber Police continue to investigate other possible accomplices.
