Five held in Delhi for defrauding woman of Rs 11.95 lakh in loan scam

New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) Five people have been arrested for allegedly duping a woman of Rs 11.95 lakh by fraudulently withdrawing a personal loan from her bank account by posing as bank officials, an official said on Thursday.

The accused have been identified as the Himanshu Kumar Gautam (26), the alleged mastermind, Sachin (28), Asif Ali (26), Raj Swami (22) and Hemraj Gurjar (21), police said.

According to the police, the modus operandi of the gang allegedly involved impersonating bank representatives, securing OTPs from unsuspecting customers, and using mule accounts to divert and withdraw the defrauded funds.

The case came to light after a woman from Palam reported a call from a person posing as a representative of a reputed financial institution.

The caller, under the pretext of helping her redeem her credit card reward points, deceitfully obtained her one-time passwords (OTPs), the police said.

"Within minutes, a pre-approved personal loan of Rs 11.95 lakh was fraudulently disbursed into her bank account and then transferred to multiple other accounts," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Amit Goel said.

A case was registered and during investigation, police found that the cheated amount had been routed to a mule account belonging to Hemraj Gurjar, and withdrawn in parts from ATMs in Delhi's Vishal Enclave.

Surveillance and technical analysis led to the arrest of Gurjar and his associate Raj Swami, the police said.

"Further interrogation and digital analysis helped trace and arrest the remaining accused - Asif Ali from New Seelampur, Sachin from Uttam Nagar and the kingpin, Himanshu Gautam, from Rama Park. Himanshu was found to have orchestrated the entire scam by impersonating financial executives and gaining access to victims' banking details," the officer said.

The police said Gautam had previously been involved in a cyber fraud case registered in Rohtak, Haryana.

Eight smartphones allegedly used in the scam have been recovered from the accused and further investigation is underway to trace other victims and financial trails linked to the network. they said. PTI SSJ SSJ ARB NSD NSD