Man duped of 46L on pretext of online loans

The Meghwadi Police have booked an unidentified accused for cheating an Andheri-based man to the tune of Rs 48 lakh on the pretext of job offers with handsome salary and a loan with a low rate of interest.

According to police sources, the 53year-old complainant had received a number of emails, phone calls and messages from an unknown person who offered the complainant a workfrom-home job as well as a loan at a meagre rate of interest. When the complainant showed a little bit of interest in the offers, the accused sent a web link to the victim and asked him to fill out a form and pay a small amount of money to initiate the process of procuring a loan.

When the complainant entered his details and shared the account number, the accused kept asking for money on the pretext of mistransaction or processing fees, as well as taxes incurred in the process of getting an online loan without any prior verification, which is needed according to the rules laid down by the Reserve Bank of India. On the pretext of one or the other, the accused kept minting money from the complainant and ended up taking as much as Rs 45,81,520 from the complainant.

Soon after, the accused stopped taking the complainant's calls. Having realised that he has been duped, the victim approached Meghwadi Police and lodged a complaint under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act for cheating. While police are yet to identify the accused, investigation is underway.