MUMBAI: A 46-year-old electrical engineer who was looking for a job abroad was duped of nearly ₹10 lakh in a cyberfraud where he was offered a false job in Singapore. After the complainant posted his details on a job portal in September, he was contacted by a scammer who made him pay the sum over a period of three months. An FIR was registered on Saturday
According to the police, the victim, S Poduri, works as an electrical engineer at a private firm in Santacruz (West). A native of Andhra Pradesh, he shifted to Mumbai in 2021 when he was offered a job here. Looking to be hired abroad when switching jobs this time, he posted his resume which boasted 25 years’ experience, on Indeed, an online job portal, in September.
On November 18, he received a call from a man who said he was calling from Indeed Recruiter and offered him a job in KTC group in Singapore. He asked Poduri to pay an upfront fee of ₹2,500 for registration and ₹7,290 for document verification to a certain account. Following this, the accused provided Poduri with an invoice, so the victim believed him, said a police officer.
The caller allegedly called him again and said to secure a job abroad, the candidate had to pay charges for medical check, residence permit, account opening, fund commitment, and worker’s license- all of which cost Poduri ₹9,99,331. Two days later the same person demanded more money to arrange for a VISA. Poduri inquired him about the VISA number and other details of the job. At this, the person disconnected the phone call. Poduri called him many times after this and found his number was blocked. He realised the person was a scammer and contacted the cyber helpline (1930) on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}The caller allegedly called him again and said to secure a job abroad, the candidate had to pay charges for medical check, residence permit, account opening, fund commitment, and worker’s license- all of which cost Poduri ₹9,99,331. Two days later the same person demanded more money to arrange for a VISA. Poduri inquired him about the VISA number and other details of the job. At this, the person disconnected the phone call. Poduri called him many times after this and found his number was blocked. He realised the person was a scammer and contacted the cyber helpline (1930) on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}The Santacruz police verified the transanctions and registered an FIR under relevant sections of the IT Act against the unknown person. “We have been checking the accounts where Poduri had transferred money to and are getting details from the concerned banks. Once we get it, we can know where the money was transferred and who were involved in the crime,” said senior police inspector Vaibhav Singare.
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