Retired LIC officer falls for hawala threat, loses Rs 25L to impersonators in Tiruchy
After transferring the fund, he contacted the particular number but no one picked up the call. Subsequently, Anandan realised that he was cheated.
TIRUCHY: A retired LIC officer in Tiruchy lost Rs 25 lakh to a person who contacted him over the phone in the disguise of a police officer dealing with hawala money transactions. The Cyber crime police registered a case and are searching for the culprit. On April 9, Ananadan (59), a resident of Officers Colony in Puthur Ranganathapuram, a retired assistant Manager of Rockfort branch of LIC, received a call from an unknown person who introduced him as a TRAI official and informed him that he made a hawala money transaction worth Rs 37 crore by using the mobile phone number and Aadhaar number and he was under CBI surveillance. Subsequently, another person contacted him by introducing him as Crime Branch police from Mumbai and told him that a money laundering case has been registered against him and asked him to transfer his bank balance to the ‘reserve bank account’ and the money transferred would be given back to him after inquiry gets over. Trusting these words, Anandan transferred the entire bank balance of Rs 25.48 lakh to the particular account shared by the caller. After transferring the fund, he contacted the particular number but no one picked up the call. Subsequently, Anandan realised that he was cheated. He approached the City Cyber Crime police and complained. Based on the complaint, a case has been registered and investigations are on.