NEW DELHI: Four men have been arrested for allegedly defrauding a retired Indian Air Force officer of more than Rs 49 lakh through a fake online investment scheme, police said on Wednesday.
The accused—Amit Kumar (35), Uzair Abbasi (28), Ali Sher Saifi (45), and Md Hamid (33)—were apprehended near the Anand Vihar bus stand in northeast Delhi. They operated numerous bank accounts across India under false identities using forged documents.
These accounts were used to receive and route the defrauded money, for which the accused were paid commissions. Around Rs 2 lakh has been frozen from various accounts.
The victim, Umesh Kumar Sharma, lodged a complaint after receiving a social media message from a woman claiming to be an investment advisor named Kangna Sharma.
She invited him to join an “investment group” and persuaded him to register on a trading platform via a shared link.
Trusting her, Sharma transferred Rs 49.28 lakh from his and his father’s accounts.
When he attempted to withdraw funds, he was refused and threatened with account freezing unless he deposited more. Police traced the transactions and identified multiple beneficiary accounts, leading to the arrests.
Officers recovered four mobile phones and five SIM cards.
During interrogation, the accused admitted to being part of a wider fraud syndicate. Investigations are ongoing to trace their links to other cases and identify more members of the network, police said.