Techie kept under 'video surveillance' for 15 days, conned of Rs 82 lakh in Bengaluru

A 24-year-old techie was held under ‘video surveillance’ for 15 days by scamsters posing as officers from the Mumbai police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). They used threats and subterfuge to con him out of Rs 82 lakh. 

At 8:47 am on March 7, Marathahalli resident K Ramesh (name changed) received a phone call from a “FedEx representative” who claimed a parcel containing passports and narcotics was sent to Taiwan in his name.

Next, Ramesh was directed to speak with Mumbai Cyber Crime officials as he wished to make a complaint since he hadn’t sent any package.

Skype call

On the Skype call, a person impersonating an SP-ranked officer wearing a uniform appeared and told Ramesh that there was an “illegal HDFC bank account under his name from which money was transferred to fund several illegal activities”. The call was then transferred and two people — Anil Mishra and Aditya Keshav — claimed to be CBI officers. The “CBI officers” allegedly told Ramesh that to prove his innocence he had to “disclose and liquidate all his assets and transfer it to various ‘surveillance accounts’ to verify if his money was legitimate”. 

“This is where the victim got scared and revealed his total net worth,” a cybercrime investigator told DH. “He had a significant amount as he was a well-paid software professional.” 

Video surveillance

Holding Ramesh under duress, the two CBI imposters told him he would be kept under video surveillance where he “had to maintain total confidentiality of all the events that were happening” and that there were threats to his life. 

“Due to this, he could not even Google what was happening since the complainant was on video surveillance,” the FIR seen by DH noted. 

An investigator said that during the 15 days, the scamsters called the victim on Skype at random intervals to ensure he was home. “The victim had given a personal reason and availed work from home.” 

After the imposters told him his transferred money to ‘surveillance accounts’ would be returned within six hours of verification, he wired them “Rs 82,63,661 in 10 different transactions over 15 days”. 

“He sent them nearly Rs 30 lakh from a bank account he held jointly with his aunt,” an officer said. “He also broke several FDs and withdrew money from his mutual fund investments.” 

After the final transaction on March 22, there was total silence, the victim claimed, which prompted him to file a police complaint. A case was registered by the HAL police under sections of the IPC and IT Act.