Two conmen cheating people by masquerading as RBI officials held

A mechanical engineer and his accomplice were arrested on the charge of cheating various persons to the tune of Rs 50 lakhs by masquerading as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials, police said on Wednesday.

Accused Vikas Jha, 25, of Delhi and Ashutosh, 23, of Bihar were apprehended on December 31 near the Hyatt Hotel here on a tip-off.

On December 17, 2016, S.K. Nair of R.K Puram's Sector 6 said he had lodged an online complaint regarding non-issuance of a cheque book by his bank, a senior police officer said.

"A day after, Nair received a call from a person who identified himself as an RBI official and asked for his bank account number and details of his debit card. Afterwards, Nair received an SMS regarding debit of Rs 1,57,000 from his account," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ishwar Singh said.

During investigation, the amount was found to be transferred to various e-wallet channels like Paytm and Free Charge. "This led to the arrest of the accused," the DCP said.

Jha and Ashutosh told police they used to get details on their potential victims from online portals. Posing as RBI officials, they called the victims and got their bank account details to fraudulently transfer money through their e-wallets, he added.

"They said they spend the conned money on shopping on online portals and further sell these articles again through online portals," Singh said.

--IANS

sp/tsb/bg