Mumbai Police Arrest Two UP Residents for Defrauding Vile Parle Executive of Rs. 3.8 Lakhs

Mumbai, 26th April 2024: Mumbai police apprehended two individuals from Uttar Pradesh, both college dropouts, on Wednesday for defrauding a 36-year-old executive of a Vile Parle-based wealth management firm of Rs. 3.8 lakhs. The suspects, Akash Agarwal (24) and Rohit Prasad (27), enticed the victim with promises of redeemable reward points from her banking card, alleging that the points could be forfeited if left unused. Authorities recovered Rs. 1.88 lakhs from the seized credit cards utilized by the duo to transfer the embezzled funds from the victim’s account on March 17.

Elaborating on their scheme, an officer from the Andheri police cyber wing elucidated, “The perpetrators opted to use credit cards rather than conventional bank accounts to stash the illicit funds. These cards were lent to acquaintances for shopping or online transactions, with interest charged on the total expenditure. They acquired the victim’s banking credentials through deceptive links purportedly offering reward points.”

The scam surfaced when the duo deceived Andheri resident RS Hariya, persuading her to claim Rs. 5,199 allegedly accumulated on her card, under threat of forfeiture. Hariya, in her complaint, recounted receiving a call on March 17, wherein she was directed to a link sent to her mobile to redeem the reward points. Subsequently, unauthorized transactions totaling Rs. 1.99 lakhs and Rs. 1.79 lakhs were debited from her account via BillDesk.

Acting on Hariya’s complaint, DCP (Zone X) Mangesh Shinde oversaw the investigation, leading to the arrest of the suspects in the Sewla Sarai Agra locality of UP. “The duo’s fraudulent activities spanned two years, during which they obtained credit cards in the names of family members, friends, and acquaintances, leveraging these identities in their illicit operations,” remarked a police official.

The accused face charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for impersonation, cheating, as well as provisions of the IT Act, and are currently in police custody.