Second arrest made in Rs 4.74 crore cyber fraud targeting senior citizen

PANAJI

The Cyber Crime Police have made a second arrest in a major cyber fraud case, in which a Panaji-based senior citizen lost Rs 4.74 crore through a fake investment scheme.  

According to the police, the accused had posed as a trusted investment platform, Paytm Money, by running a fake set-up called PTM-QIB on WhatsApp and YouTube. The 72-year-old retired government officer believed he had received a large allotment of IPO shares and transferred the money hoping for high returns, only to later discover the scheme was fake.  

SP Rahul Gupta said the police team tracked and arrested Suraj Eknath Savat, a resident of Mhasurli, Kolhapur. “Savat used his associate’s bank account to receive Rs 80 lakh in the first stage of the laundering process, before the money was moved to several linked accounts. This same account has been connected to eight cyber fraud cases in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat and Goa, involving a total fraud amount of Rs 13.10 crore,” he said.  

Earlier this month, the Cyber Crime Police arrested Avishkar Devidas Suradkar from Jalna, Maharashtra, who is now out on bail. The third accused, Malathi B N from Bengaluru, allegedly received Rs 30 lakh in the first stage of transactions and has been served notice under Sections 35(3), 35(4), 35(5) and 35(6) of the BNSS Act. She has been directed to cooperate with the investigation. Savat has been remanded to police custody.