A lucrative offer lured a city banker away from his high-paying job in Malawi, Africa, recently, only for him to realise it was a prank played by his son.
The man who moved back with his family to Chennai lodged a complaint at the police commisionerate last month.
Investigations revealed the complainant’s 12-year-old son had played the prank as he was unhappy with his stay in Africa and wanted to move back to the city.
According to sources with the Central Crime Branch (CCB) who probed the complaint, the banker migrated from Chennai to the southeast African country with his wife and son one year ago.
In April, he received an email from a sender who claimed to represent a finance firm in Muscat with a lucrative job offer.
“Excited about the offer, the banker responded and after a series of mails exchanged, finalised his move. He resigned his job in Malawi, wound up things and flew down to Chennai with his wife and son, a class VIII student. As instructed by his prospective employer, he purchased air tickets to Muscat for his family,” said an officer with the Cyber Crime wing of the CCB.
The complainant realised he had been cheated only when he arrived in Chennai airport and approached authorities for the ‘promised’ Oman visas. In mid August, he lodged a complaint with the grievance cell at the city police commissionerate.
The Cyber Crime wing carried out a probe and established the emails regarding the job offer had been sent from the complainant’s laptop.
“With a thorough examination we ascertained the first email was sent from Malawi to the complainant’s mail ID using his computer. The subsequent mails about the job description, pay scale and visas were also sent from his own laptop,” the officer said.
Investigators determined the boy had meticulously drawn up details for the fake job offer as he knew the family would fly back to Chennai.
The complainant dropped the case this week. Investigators advised the boy against indulging in such acts.
