A 19-year-old man named Neeraj Bhatt was arrested in a major online scam after tricking a retired teacher in Dehradun out of ₹2.27 crore (around $275,000). Neeraj lived in a hostel in Jaipur and was caught by the police on January 18.
Neeraj and others pretended to be police officers online. They told Mahipal Singh, a 63-year-old retired teacher, that he was in trouble for a crime involving his ID and phone number. They scared him into believing he would be arrested if he didn’t follow their instructions.
The scam lasted from September 9 to 17. The fraudsters used phones and video calls to convince Mahipal that an investigation was happening. They showed him fake documents that looked real, making Mahipal fear for his safety.
Over several days, he transferred large amounts of money from his bank accounts to the fraudsters, thinking he could avoid being arrested. He sent ₹33 lakh, ₹86 lakh, ₹52 lakh, ₹24 lakh, and ₹32 lakh, totaling ₹2,27,22,717 stolen from him.
The police found out about the scam after Mahipal reported it. They set up a team to catch the culprits by tracking down the bank accounts and mobile data. Now, Neeraj is in custody, and the police are investigating if he is involved in more scams around India.
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