A senior railway official lost Rs 9 lakh to fraudsters posing as CBI officers who said that the official was linked to a bank account used to siphon off large amounts of money
The victim, aged 59, holds the position of Principal Chief Electrical Engineer (Construction) at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai and resides in Colaba, South Mumbai. The fraudsters not only impersonated CBI officers but also staged a fake court appearance with one posing as a ‘judge.’ They then instructed the victim to transfer ₹9 lakh into a specific bank account as a ‘penalty’ for his alleged connection to the crime, according to reports.
The incident took place on Monday when the official received a threatening voice message warning that his phone number would be blocked within two hours unless he responded by pressing ‘0’ for more details.
Despite the official’s denial of having a second phone number, the fraudsters managed to convince him that a number had been falsely registered in his name and linked to a bank account that had been used to launder ₹58 lakh.
The scammers were on video conferencing with the victim as he carried on with his work at the office. Later, they insisted he return home for further questioning by the so-called ‘CBI officers.’ Once back at home, another video call was initiated around 2 p.m. that day.
“During this time, the fraudsters obtained all the details about the railway official’s family background, his finance and property details from him. The accused then told him that he would be produced before the court online and the judge will decide the matter,” a police official said.
For the next 20 hours, until about 9:30 a.m. the following day, the fake ‘judge’ kept the call active. The scammers then claimed they had found illegal transactions linked to the official’s supposed second bank account and demanded ₹9 lakh as a fine, which the official transferred via RTGS.
Only after the money was sent did the victim realize he had been scammed. He contacted his bank to stop the transfer but it was too late. A complaint was filed at Colaba police station, and authorities are now investigating the cyber fraud.
