Posing as a childhood friend, a man cheated a senior geologist and made away with ₹45,000 citing help for medical emergency.
Based on the complaint by Ishfaq Ahmed Mir, who works at the Geological Survey of India in K.S. Layout, the south division cybercrime police are trying to track down the accused through online transaction details.
In his complaint, Dr. Mir said he came across a Facebook profile of his childhood friend, whom he identified through the picture. After a chat, the accused, on January 18, said he was based in Australia.
A few hours later, he contacted Dr. Mir seeking financial help for a medical emergency as his driver based in Mumbai met with an accident and needed money immediately for his treatment. He also said that since he was in Australia, he could not transfer the money immediately. Dr. Mir agreed to help and transferred the money to the given number. The cheating came to light when Dr. Mir discussed this issue with his other friends on January 30 who informed him that he has ben conned.
In a similar incident, Girish L., senior scientific officer with State FSL, Madivala, lost ₹1 lakh after clicking an unverified link sent to his mobile number by an unknown person on January 25. Mr. Girish in his complaint said he received a message through an unknown number asking him to update his PAN details. Mr. Girish clicked on the link and ₹1 lakh got deducted from his savings bank account. He realised the fraud recently and filed a complaint with the southeast cybercrime police on Wednesday.
