Resident duped of ₹71 lakh by online fraudsters on pretext of business proposal

The resident said he received an email promising him commission for acting as a middleman for purchase of minerals for a company in Japan. The fraudsters duped him of money, by asking him to send fees for purchasing samples, opening accounts, etc

A city resident claimed he was duped of ₹71 lakh by a person who posed as the director of a Japanese company on the pretext of paying him a commission for acting as a middleman to purchase raw materials from a Sikkim-based firm.

A police official, who is privy to the investigation, said that the matter appeared to be of impersonation and online fraudsters were taking this approach to dupe on pretext of business proposals. (Representative image)

The police registered a case under Section 66D of the IT Act and Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code at the cyber police station on Tuesday.

A police official, who is privy to the investigation, said that the matter appeared to be of impersonation and online fraudsters were taking this approach to dupe people. “Similar types of frauds, for selling seeds or products from Sikkim, are increasing of late,” the official said.

In his complaint, the resident, Pradip Kumar Saha, said he received an email from a person who claimed to be a Japanese national and the director of a company who was seeking to purchase zirconite (a mineral) from India. After the resident responded to the email, he was given the contact number of a material supplier in Sikkim and asked to contact the sales manager.

Saha said that in the fraud, which took place over two months, he was promised a commission on the total purchase value for representing them as their India operations and coordination.

After accepting the proposal, the complainant was asked to arrange some samples, for which he transferred ₹10 lakh to the bank account shared by the supplier. Likewise, he was allegedly motivated to make a series of payments for visa permissions, opening a bank account and advance payments, among other reasons. The victim said that he paid ₹71 lakh in total to the accused, but refused to make further payments.

Subash Boken, the spokesperson for Gurugram police, said, “The matter is being probed.”