Cyber fraud: Man swindled out of ₹13.5 lakh on pretext of helping ‘friend of a friend’

A man was duped of ₹13

A man was duped of ₹13.5 lakh on the pretext of providing financial help to a friend of a friend, the police said on Saturday.

It was only later that he realised that he had been duped when the money was not credited to his account. (HT File)

The complainant, Prafulla Mohan Sinha of Sector 40, Chandigarh, said that he received a call from an unknown person, who said he was calling on behalf of his Australia-based friend Surinder Paul.

The caller told him that the wife of his friend, Jaspal Singh, was admitted to a hospital in Kolkata and he needed ₹18 lakh for her operation.

The caller told Sinha to send his account number and he (the caller) will pay him ₹18 lakh. Afterwards,the caller sent him the receipt, showing that ₹18.46 lakh had been transferred to his account. He assured Sinha that the money will be credited to his account within 24 hours.

The caller also told Sinha that his friend Jaspal Singh would call him. Trusting that the money had been deposited to his account, Sinha transferred ₹13.5 lakh to Jaspal’s account on September 29.

It was only later that he realised that he had been duped when the money was not credited to his account. A case under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the indian penal Code (IPC) was registered at the Cyber Crime police station on September 30.