Cyber Crook Nabbed From Bengal For Duping Bhubaneswar Lawyer Of Rs 74 Lakh

Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch (CB) of Odisha Police has arrested a cyber crook from Alipore in West Bengal for allegedly duping an advocate to the tune of Rs 74 lakh.

The arrested identified as Prasant Dwivedi, lured lawyer Ramballav Rath, a resident of Forest Park area in Bhubaneswar, with around Rs 3 crore insurance benefit by posing as a senior functionary of different agencies, including a private insurance company and the Ministry of Finance.

According to CB sources, Rath (63) had been receiving frequent telephone calls from cyber fraudsters impersonating officials of Kotak Mahindra, National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI), Capital Services and others since 2018. They persuaded Rath to deposit money in different instalments to avail a lump sum bonus through his existing insurance policy. He transferred Rs 74.97 lakh to different accounts between May 2018 and January 2021 after receiving forged documents from the accused.

The fraudsters had even created fake email IDs to con Rath.

During the investigation, the agency’s officers ascertained that Dwivedi had purchased a fake domain of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) from one Dharmendra Kumar (36), who was nabbed from Lucknow last month.

He had sold a fake email ID with domain name- IRDAI.org using his own credentials to Dwivedi. The transaction for the same was verified by the probe agency and Dwivedi was arrested based on his statement.

“An ATM card and other documents were seized from Dwivedi. Investigation is on to ascertain involvement for others in the case,” said a CB officer.