70-year-old doctor loses ₹1.69 lakh to cyber fruads

According to the complainant, Dr Kundalik Pol, he had made a post looking for a tenant for a flat on the website in January 2023 for which he had to pay a registration fee of around ₹8,000. However, he was not able to find a tenant through the website and therefore asked the service provider to return the amount

Mumbai: A 70-year-old doctor from Vakola, Santacruz East, lost ₹1.69 lakh to cyber frauds who posed as employees of an online brokering service.

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According to the complainant, Dr Kundalik Pol, he had made a post looking for a tenant for a flat on the website in January 2023 for which he had to pay a registration fee of around ₹8,000. However, he was not able to find a tenant through the website and therefore asked the service provider to return the amount.

“There was a lot of back and forth for a few months between Pol and the representatives of the service. On July 18, he wrote an e-mail to an email address of the service he got through a Google search. Within half an hour of sending the mail, he received a call on which he was informed that though his complaint had been registered, he would have to pay ₹2 to take it forward,” said an officer from Vakola police station. He added that the complainant was also sent a link through which this payment was made.

The next day he received a text about a withdrawal of around ₹1.70 lakh from his bank accounts, the officer said, adding, “He then called his bank to enquire about the unauthorised transactions and came to know that he had become the victim of cyber fraud. We have booked an unknown accused for cheating.”