A textile businessman from Ludhiana was allegedly cheated out of Rs 86 lakh in a cyber fraud case, leading to the arrest of the main suspect—a 40-year-old IT professional from West Bengal, police said on Sunday.
According to the Cyber Crime Police, the accused, who owns a technology firm, was the mastermind behind the scam. He is accused of using multiple bank accounts to move the stolen money and conceal the financial trail.
Though the police did not reveal the accused’s identity, they confirmed recovering Rs 21.5 lakh from his possession. Authorities are continuing the investigation to trace the rest of the stolen funds and identify other individuals who may have been involved in the fraud.
The case came to light after a complaint was filed by 58-year-old Shrenik Jain, a resident of Dr Sham Singh Road in Civil Lines and the director of a textile company. Based on his complaint, an FIR was registered under sections 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Cyber Crime police station in December 2024.
In the complaint, Jain stated that on December 17, 2024, his company’s accountant, Amit Salaria, received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number. The number showed Jain’s photo as the profile picture. Without verifying the number, Salaria saved it to his contacts.
The next day, the impersonator messaged Salaria, asking him to “check the company’s bank account balance, and then transfer Rs 86 lakh to an ICICI bank account for a new business venture.” Believing the instructions had come from Jain himself, Salaria carried out the transfer.
It was only after speaking with Jain on a phone call that Salaria realised the request was fake and that he had been misled by someone impersonating his employer.
Inspector Satvir Singh from the Cyber Crime police station said, “Further investigation led us to the bank account where the Rs 86 lakh was first deposited; it was immediately siphoned off through several other accounts. The arrested accused is an IT expert, and owns a tech firm in West Bengal. We have so far recovered Rs 21.5 lakh from him.”
The police are now working to track the remaining money and locate others who may have helped in executing the fraud.
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