Senior citizen duped of Rs 3 lakh by cyber fraudster posing as son's friend in Mumbai

Mumbai: A 63-year-old man was cheated of Rs 3 lakh by an unidentified cyber fraudster who spoke to him on phone posing as a friend of his son and mimicking his voice, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on March 2, but the case was registered on Monday afternoon at Bhandup police station in the eastern suburbs.

The complainant has two daughters and a son and all the three live abroad, a police official said.

On March 2, he received a voice call on WhatsApp from an unidentified number, and the caller identified himself as Vikas Gupta, a friend of his son who lives in Canada.

As the victim knew Vikas Gupta since childhood and the caller's voice resembled Gupta's, the victim trusted him.

The caller then started crying, saying he was in trouble and needed money immediately.

The victim transferred Rs 2 lakh to the caller's account and also asked his two friends to deposit Rs 50,000 each.

When the fraudster again demanded money, he sensed that something was fishy and made a video call to the caller which was not answered, the police official said.

The complainant then found out that Gupta had never made any such call.

On March 3, he filed an online complaint, but due to illness, he did not go to police station on the same day. The case was registered on Monday and further probe was on, the official said.