Crime Branch nabs two from Delhi for cyber fraud

CUTTACK: Two cyber fraudsters, who had cheated a man from Baripada and duped him of Rs 87 lakh by pretending to be realtors from Switzerland, were arrested from New Delhi by Crime Branch of Odisha Police. The accused are Binod Kumar Singh of Jahanabad and Sanjeeb Kumar of Vaishali in Bihar.

According to the complainant Tapan Kumar Dash of Madhuban in Baripada, a woman identifying herself as Christie Dawson of Switzerland had befriended him on Facebook in September 2018. Later, they started exchanging messages on Whatsapp during which she claimed to have owned a real-estate business in Switzerland and expressed interest to start the same in India.

On September 26, Dawson sent Dash a message that she was coming to India. On September 28, Dash received a phone call from another lady claiming to be Customs Officer of Delhi Airport who informed him about Dawson’s detention and seizure of 3 lakh pounds.

Dawson then requested him to deposit the fine amount with a promise to pay back the money after release of the seized pounds.

Accordingly, Dash deposited money in the bank account given by the fake custom officer. He also deposited money in different bank accounts of the accused persons on different dates towards fine, tax, GST etc. Dash was then informed that an agent of United Nations was coming to Odisha with the released pounds which had been converted to dollar.

One John Skotan of South Africa claiming to be the UN agent reached Bhubaneswar with a small iron box and met Dash at a city hotel. At the hotel, Skotan took out some black papers from a sealed bundle and wiped out the colour with the help of a liquid following which the black colour disappeared and the papers resembled dollars. Skotan then left for Delhi to procure more liquid but left the locked iron box with black paper bundles in Dash’s custody. Dash had also deposited money in Skotan’s account for latter’s travel to Delhi. 

Dash alleged that after depositing `87 lakh and realising that he was being cheated, he lodged a complaint. During investigation, Cuttack CB Inspector Sujata Khandual found that there was no lady by the name of Christie Dawson and none was detained in Delhi with pounds currency. It was learnt that the duo had spun the story to cheat Dash. 

The arrested were produced in Patiala House Court and brought on transit remand before being produced in JMFC court in Baripada on Tuesday, Crime Branch sources said.