It's a must-read story for all of us so that we stay away from cyber criminals and not lose our hard-earned money by falling into the trap of fraudsters. Recently, a senior citizen lady aged 62 from Vidyaranyapura of Bengaluru lost whopping Rs 9.25 lakhs just because she believed what cybercriminals told her and did exactly what she was asked to by them.

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What really happened?

She lost Rs 9.25 lakh to cybercriminals who approached her as representatives of a television game show. The fraudsters claimed that she had bagged Rs 25 lakh as prize money. And, later, the cyber criminals told her that prize money has been increased to Rs 1 crore. Further, she was asked to pay some charges, including advance income tax to claim the amount of prize money of Rs 1 crore, as per a report in TOI.

Believing the cyber criminals, the lady paid Rs 9.25 lakh in multiple transactions to cyber criminals assuming the advance income tax to claim the amount of prize money of Rs 1 crore. The multiple transactions from her account took place between October 21 and November 6.

According to police, the lady transferred Rs 9.25 lakh to the conmen, but later when she spoke to her friends, relatives, she realised and got to know the reality that she has been cheated.

In a similar development, Bengaluru police recently busted a fake inter-state employment agency racket allegedly run by a five-member Andhra Pradesh gang. The police said the gang is said to have duped more than 500 unemployed mid-level techies by charging heavy "fees" from them and giving fake offer/employment letters. The modus operandi of the gang was to target those who have lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic and assure them a decent job.

The Andhra gang surreptitiously operated in Bengaluru where many techies had been rendered jobless during the Covid-19 pandemic.