Pune: In a shocking cyber fraud incident, a management student from Pune was duped of ₹43 lakh after cybercriminals posed as CBI officials and threatened him with legal action via Skype. The FIR has been registered at Baner Police Station.
The victim, Venkataramana Shanmugan (age 23, resident of Ramnagar, Baner), filed a complaint against unidentified cyber fraudsters.
According to police, the complainant lives in the Balewadi area and is pursuing a management degree at a private university in Pune. Between September 2 and 9, 2024, cybercriminals contacted Shanmugan via Skype, claiming to be officers from the CBI office in Delhi. They falsely informed him that multiple legal cases had been filed in his name and that his Aadhaar card was linked to 50 such cases.
Under the pretext of avoiding immediate legal action, the fraudsters demanded urgent payments. Over the next five to six months, they repeatedly threatened the student and extorted money in multiple transactions, amounting to ₹42,95,637, transferred to various bank accounts.
When the criminals demanded even more money, the scared student finally approached the police. The case is currently being investigated by Senior Police Inspector Chandrashekhar Sawant.