The Cyber Crime Cell has so far received complaints pertaining to phishing, vishing, ATM fraud, cyber stalking, online job fraud, and abusive emails.
But a complaint received a few days ago was unique.
For the first time, Rs.1.32 crore was fleeced from the victim.
Till date, the amounts have been in thousands and rarely crossed the one-lakh mark.
But this youth lost a huge amount, which he had accrued by selling the entire family property.
“Now, they have turned paupers,” said Cyber Crime Cell Inspector K. Satyanaraya Rao.
A resident of Parawada, 25-year-old V. Ramana, a Class 10 dropout, was a victim to the infamous Nigerian lottery scam.
According to the police, Ramana received a SMS a few months ago, stating that he had won a lottery of Rs. 9 crore from the Coca Cola Lottery, an international lottery agency.
He fell for the bait and started corresponding. Initially, it was through SMS. Once the fraudsters were convinced that he was a potential victim, they switched to calls.
In a bid to clear all doubts of Ramana, the fraudsters produced a number of fake documents such RBI clearance certificate, CBI clearance, Anti Terrorist certificate, International Anti Money Laundering Certificate from Interpol and High Court and Income Tax clearance certificates. They later asked him to pay various amounts such as processing fee, Income Tax fee, court and custom charges.
The amounts demanded ranged from Rs.50,000 to Rs.10 lakh, said Mr. Satyanarayana.
Employing the carrot-and-stick method, the fraudsters once sent an ATM debit card along with the PIN and asked him to withdraw Rs. 10,000.
On subsequent transaction, Ramana found that the PIN was blocked.
When he questioned, the fraudsters said that the debit card was only for the purpose of testing the final transaction process, and once he completed paying the processing fee it would be reactivated.
Convinced that the money was on its way, he went on paying whatever the fraudsters demanded.
Ramana convinced his father, a small-time farmer, to sell his land, house, gold, and property to pay the fraudsters.
In total, he paid Rs. 1.32 crore in 50 instalments.
Mr. Satyanarayana said that the victim’s sister had warned him that it was a scam, as she had seen cyber crime awareness posters in her college and slides in theatres. But the warning fell on deaf ears.
He realised that it was a fraud when the fraudsters severed all contacts. But it was too late.
“From a decent middle class family, they have turned paupers. And it is just because of greed,” said Mr. Satyanarayana.
Detecting Nigerian frauds is like searching for a needle in a haystack. The police are investigating, but are believed to be in the dark as they are unable to establish any concrete lead.
