The Navghar police in Bhayandar are probing a case of suspected fraud in which a 47-year-old businessman engaged in manufacturing of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) tanks to store chemicals and liquids fell prey to a "fake" order which he received on e-mail and ended up losing Rs.12 lakh. In his complaint to the police the businessman stated that he had uploaded the products of his company on online advertisement portals. 

After receiving an email from a company stating requirement of 1,422 FRP tanks for acid mixing on 14, November, the complainant reverted by sending the quotations. The fraudsters replied by sending a confirmation tagged with a direction to transfer Rs.12 lakh towards refundable earnest money deposit (EMD). Unaware of the deceit, the complainant transferred Rs.12 lakh to the bank account specified in the email.

However, when he failed to receive any receipt or acknowledgment, the complainant got suspicious and approached the manager of the beneficiary branch of the bank in Bhayandar (east) to hold the disbursal. However, the entire amount was already withdrawn from ATM’s. The footage captured by the closed-circuit tele-vision (CCTV) showed two people including a woman withdrawing cash from the ATM of the bank. While the footage was being scanned the same woman appeared in the bank, following which the complainant alerted the police who immediately reached the spot. The woman claimed to be the owner of the company which had placed the order.

However, when asked to return the cash, she doled out lame excuses while claiming that the money was in the possession of her mother-in-law. The police registered an offence under sections 316 (2) (criminal breach of trust) and 318 (4) cheating of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the 26-year-old woman. Investigations were on to ascertain the authenticity of the company which placed the order.