Udaipur: Pratapgarh police arrested a man from Ghaziabad Sunday for allegedly defrauding a Udaipur resident of Rs 22.63 lakh in a cyber scam involving a fake Birla Sun Life insurance policy refund.Acting on a complaint filed by victim Nanalal Lohar on May 11, 2024, the police launched an investigation that led to the arrest of the key accused, Shafiq Ahmed, 32, a resident of Sahibabad in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.Lohar had approached an unknown contact to claim a refund on his dormant insurance policy. The accused, posing as representatives of Birla Sun Life and using fake identities—Manoj Pandey, NP Singh, and VK Singh—sent Aadhaar and PAN card copies via a social media app to gain the victim’s trust.Once convinced, Lohar transferred Rs 22.63 lakh to various accounts provided by the accused between April 15 and May 9, 2024. The fraud came to light when the accused’s phone became unreachable, prompting Lohar to lodge a complaint with the Pratapgarh cyber police station.District superintendent of police Vineet Kumar Bansal formed a special team led by Cyber Police SHO Hari Singh to probe the matter. The team quickly traced and froze the involved bank accounts. Technical analysis revealed that the funds had been deposited into the account of Shafiq Ahmed.A police team raided Ghaziabad and detained Ahmed, who during interrogation confessed to contacting Lohar via a number found on Google and conning him with the promise of an insurance refund.Police said efforts are underway to trace other members of the fraud network based on leads from Ahmed’s interrogation.
