Man loses ₹72 lakh after being lured into putting SIM in free mobile phone
South Division Cybercrime police register a case under the IT Act, 2000, and also for impersonation and cheating
A56-year-old head of a private rm lost ₹72 lakh to cybercriminals who promised a free credit card from a leading private bank. The man lost ₹72 lakh after inserting his SIM card into a new mobile phone that he got from the bank as a gift.
Based on his complaint, the South Division Cybercrime police have registered a case under the IT Act, 2000, and also for impersonation and cheating.
The complaint is Basavaraju G.E., a resident of Bikasipura in south Bengaluru. According to his complaint, Basavaraju received a call from a person claiming to be an executive of a private bank and offered a free lifetime credit card based on his bank transactions and CIBIL score.
Initially, Basavaraju agreed to take up the oer, but later refused when the caller sought personal details and mobile phone authentication. However the caller persuaded him by oering a complimentary mobile phone and instructed him to insert his SIM card into the new phone for authentication.
A few hours later, Basavaraju received a brand new phone through a courier. He then followed the instruction of the caller, and inserted his SIM card in the new phone. Within minutes, ₹66,10,421 was debited from his savings bank account, along with ₹5,96,044 from his credit card, totalling ₹72 lakh.
Basavaraju tried to call the executive, but the number was out of reach.
Realising that he had been cheated, he called the cybercrime helpline 1930, and reported the matter before rushing to the South Division Cybercrime police station.
Man loses ₹52.6 lakh
In another incident, a 50year-old businessman from Mahalakshmipuram lost ₹52.6 lakh to cybercriminals in a bid to get a cash reward of ₹1.04 crore that he was oered by an unknown person.
The victim, Satish Shetty, paid the amount in instalments on dierent dates from March 11 to April 16 until he realised he had been cheated and approached the North Division Cybercrime police.
According to the complaint, Mr. Shetty received a message that he had won a cash prize from a private
rm through a scratch card. He was asked to claim the money. When Mr. Shetty contacted the person, he was advised to pay 4% as TDS to claim the prize. As soon as the money was transferred online, Mr. Shetty received another message asking him to pay GST, CGST and International GST total amounting to ₹25 lakh.
Initially Mr. Shetty was reluctant about paying, but eventually transferred the money. Then, he get a message to pay another ₹26 lakh towards various taxes and dues, failing which the cash prize will be sent for donation and a criminal case would be initiated against him. Scared of legal problems, Mr. Shetty transferred the money. At that point, he realised that he had been duped.