Fraudsters pose as CJI in fake virtual courtroom, dupe industrialist of ₹7 crore

Textile industrialist and Chairman of the Vardhman Group SP Oswal was reportedly swindled out of ₹7 crores after a cybercrime gang posed as officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and staged a fake virtual courtroom, with one of them impersonating Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud.

According to a report in the Indian Express, the fraudsters masqueraded as CBI officers and accused Oswal of being involved in a money laundering case connected to Naresh Goyal, the founder of Jet Airways, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in September last year.

TOI reported that Oswal was also accused of misusing his Aadhaar to send a parcel to Malaysia with fake passports and debit cards, and then threatened with fake arrest warrants.

According to the Indian Express and Reuters, the fraudsters even faked a Supreme Court hearing via a Skype call, with the case being heard by someone impersonating the CJI.

Oswal was sent a fake, "duly stamped" Supreme Court order as well through WhatsApp, directing him to release ₹7 crore into a Secret Supervision Account.

“During the fake Supreme Court hearing via Skype, they introduced the fake judge as Justice Chandrachud, though I could not see his face. But I could hear him talking and banging a hammer on the table. The written SC order was so perfect and stamped that I believed it to be genuine and transferred the amount,” Oswal told the Indian Express.

He added,

“I also received some other fake documents of the Supreme Court which mentioned the case as Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud Vs Shri Paul Oswal."

Oswal approached the police after a senior member of one of his companies pointed out inconsistencies in the details of the case when he confided in them.

According to reports, ₹5.25 crores has been recovered so far by the authorities and returned to Oswal's bank account.

It is further reported that after the lodging of a first information report (FIR) in the case on August 31, the police identified an inter-state gang and arrested two individuals in Guwahati.

Authorities are continuing their search for seven more suspects, stating that the gang operates across Assam, West Bengal, and Delhi.

"Commendable work by @Ludhiana_Police in cracking an inter-state cyber fraud gang. Two persons have been arrested from #Guwahati, with the help of @assampolice, and seven more persons nominated. A recovery of ₹5.25 crore, along with ATM cards and mobile phones, marks the largest-ever recovery in #India as per I4C data," the Director General of Punjab Police tweeted yesterday.