Maharashtra: Doctor cheated of Rs 3.75 lakh in online fraud

Thane:

A 63-year-old doctor was allegedly cheated of Rs 3.75 lakh in an online insurance fraud in Maharashtra’s Thane city, police said on Tuesday.

According to the complaint, the doctor, who works as a consultant at a city-based hospital and runs a clinic, received a call in February from a person, who claimed to be an employee of an insurance company.

The caller informed the complainant that if he paid the premium for his policies immediately, he could avail a discount and asked him to transfer the money to a specific account number, the complaint stated.

The doctor then transferred Rs 3.73 lakh to the account the caller mentioned, while his original premium amount for two policies was Rs 4,16 lakh.

However, on April 1, the complainant again received a call from the insurance company, asking him to pay the premium, and on further verification, he found that the money deducted from his account had not reached the insurance company.

Further probe revealed that the money the complainant had transferred was credited to an account at a Canara Bank branch in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

An offence under sections 406 (breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act was registered in this regard, Thane city police PRO Sukhada Narkar said.