Kochi: The cyber police in Kochi have arrested a youth for allegedly defrauding a man of Rs 5 lakh in a case of cyber fraud similar to those reported across the country. Muhammed Thufail K P, a resident of Koduvally in Malappuram district, was arrested in Kozhikode.
The victim, whose identity remains undisclosed, was cheated after being contacted by a person posing as an officer from the Mumbai Cyber Crime Police Station. The fraudster claimed that ATM cards, a laptop, cash, and MDMA had been sent to Shanghai from the complainant’s address in Mumbai, and that the CBI had registered a case after detecting the items in the courier. The complainant was then convinced to transfer Rs 5 lakh to a bank account, supposedly for verification by a notary.
The crime took place in February. The victim lodged a complaint with the Ernakulam Town Police and reported the case through the 1930 National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The police zeroed in on Thufail after tracing the bank transaction trail and conducting an investigation based on the information received from the cyber crime reporting portal. The cyber police said they would extend the probe into the other states too.