Nagpur: In a significant breakthrough, Nagpur Cyber Police have helped a victim of cyber fraud recover Rs 8.12 lakh that he had lost in a 'Task Fraud' scheme between October 13, 2023, and October 27, 2023, police said on Saturday.
According to police sources, complainant Ashish Bhimrao Paunikar (31), a resident of Flat No. 39, Bhageshree Nagar, Kharbi Road, received a message from cyber fraudsters on the social media platform Telegram. The message offered part-time or full-time job opportunities for easy money ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000. The accused persons then added the victim to the Skysnack Group and asked him to perform several tasks. Under the pretext of various security deposits, the fraudsters siphoned Rs 14.62 lakh from the victim’s account. However, when Ashish sought repayment, he did not receive any money back from the fraudsters.
Subsequently, he approached the Cyber Police and filed a complaint. An offence under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 of the IPC read with Sub-section 66(D) of the IT Act was registered.
During the technical investigation, the police traced the various accounts where the money was transferred. Subsequently, the police wrote to bank officials to freeze those accounts and assisted the victim in recovering Rs 8.12 lakh following court procedures.
Under the guidance of DCP (Detection) and ACP (Crime), Senior Police Inspector H R Madavi, Police Inspector Amol Deshmukh, API S G Pandre, Police Amaldar Dattatraya Ninave, Gajanan More, Karad, Gonekar, and Khope made significant efforts in recovering the money.
