3 weeks Ago
1 2 3 Pune: A 38-year-old resident of Ravet lost Rs50,000 to a cybercrook who claimed to be his friend and took money from him under the pretext of his mother's treatment. The crook sent fake messages of money transfers to the victim's bank account and made him transfer the amounts. The fraud occurred on Wednesday, April 16.
The victim reported the incident to the Ravet police on Thursday, April 17. An officer from the Ravet police told TOI that on Wednesday, when the complainant was at Chinchwad, he received a call from an unknown cellphone number. The caller started talking with the victim as if they had known each other for a very long time.
"When the caller asked the victim when he was coming to Ravet, the victim thought that the caller could be his acquaintance," the officer said. He said that the caller then told the victim that his mother was not well and he was with her in hospital. The caller told the victim that the former's brother would transfer money to the victim and requested him to transfer that money to the caller's UPI ID.
"After some time, the victim started receiving text messages of amount transfers to his bank account. Without verifying, he immediately transferred the money, which was Rs50,000, to his ‘acquaintance', thinking he would need it for his mother's treatment," he said. The officer said that the victim realised he was duped when he found that he did not receive money to his bank accounts and the messages were fake.
He tried to contact the number, which was not reachable. He then approached the police and lodged a complaint, the officer said..
