Cyber fraud: ‘Resentful’ son siphons off Rs 26 lakh from father, arrested

A 25-year-old man, driven by jealousy and resentment towards his stepbrother, allegedly defrauded his own father of over Rs 26 lakh by exploiting his digital inexperience, an official said on Sunday.

According to police, the accused, Shivam Sharma, executed the fraud over four months after stealing the SIM card linked to his 68-year-old father’s bank account.

The victim, a retired parking operator from Azadpur Mandi, had trusted his son to manage his online banking due to his poor health and limited digital literacy, officials said.

“Harbouring anger after his father handed over the family’s parking business to his son from his first marriage, Sharma devised a plan to misappropriate his father’s savings. On March 23, while his father was attending the last rites of his first wife, Shivam discreetly took the SIM card associated with the bank account,” a senior police officer said.

Using the SIM, he created a fraudulent UPI ID and began transferring money through digital platforms, according to the officer.

“He purchased gold coins from e-commerce sites and hid them inside a wall-mounted almirah at home. He also routed about Rs 6 lakh in cash through cyber cafe operators, paying 2 to 10 per cent commissions to them for facilitating withdrawals,” the officer said.

To erase digital footprints, Shivam later destroyed both the SIM card and his mobile phone, police said. According to police, despite being the perpetrator, he pretended to be a victim alongside his father, and even helped file a cybercrime complaint.

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Police said they used advanced cyber analytics and field intelligence to crack the case, recovering 100 grams of gold, and froze Rs 3 lakh in his bank account.

Shivam, a BA graduate and former BPO employee with no previous criminal record, was arrested on Saturday at his residence. He initially denied the charges but later confessed during interrogation, leading to the recovery of the stolen assets, police said.