Hackers Pull Out ‘Gotra’ Card, Ask Noida Engineer To Pay Rs 60 Lakh For Dead Man’s Million Pounds Will

NOIDA: With the arrest of three cyber criminals from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh cyber crime police have cracked the mystery behind suspicious email which led to the loss of Rs 60 lakh for a Noida based software engineer. Interestingly, these criminals have not even completed high school, but have created fake email ids and opened several fake bank accounts to cheat highly educated professionals.

The con started with series of emails the victim received in 2019. Tarun Varshney, the victim, received a mail from some London based advocate ‘Bruise Eddie’ on January 8, 2019. In that email, he learned of the death of some Braj Varshney, who died in a car accident in London in 2015.

Braj Varshney had 12.5 million pounds, which, according to the mail, would be given to Tarun Varshney of Noida because their gotras matched. According to the email, he was chosen because of his surname. Approximately half of the money would go to advocate Eddie, who allegedly sent the mail.

Following this first email in 2019, Tarun Varshney began receiving several emails from IDs such as United Kingdom attorney, Netix Bank London, requesting that he complete the formalities in order to receive the wealth. So far, he has not been asked for money, according to police, who explained how the fraud occurred.

Tarun Varshney then received an email confirming that the funds had been transferred to the Reserve Bank of India, and he was instructed to pay customs duty, registry service, legal heir charge, foreign currency exchange, and other fees. These emails were sent from an ID claiming to be from Dehradun’s foreign currency exchange department. The engineer paid a total of 60 lakh in miscellaneous charges to 25 different bank accounts.

“Cybercriminals look for new opportunities to cheat people. They send such attractive emails to lure their target. They play on human psychology to trap them. The public should understand that unrelated people are not going to send them money or leave behind their property. These are classic cons but unfortunately, people still fall for it,” said Prof Triveni Singh, Superintendent of Police, UP Cyber Crime.

The investigation of Noida’s cybercrime department led the investigation to Bareilly, where the con game was discovered and Akeeluddin, Anees Ahmed, and Asleem Khan were arrested. For the past two years, the trio has been running this racket. According to police, the 25 bank accounts belonging to them have been frozen, with 13 lakh remaining in those accounts.