Malabar Hill dad conned over school admission

A man from Walkeshwar was cheated of ₹30,000 by a fraudster posing as a school staffer for admission. Case registered by Malabar Hill police, investigation underway.

A 40-year-old resident of Walkeshwar has approached police claiming that a man posing as a staffer with a Byculla-based school cheated him of ₹30,000 after promising admission for his son.

HT Image

According to the Malabar Hill police, they registered a case on February 19 against the unidentified man based on a complaint filed by one Vinod Yadav.

Last November, Yadav, who wanted to enroll his son in pre-primary, had filled out forms for St. Mary’s School at Mazgaon in Byculla and Campion School in Colaba, a police officer said. “In January, he received an email from St. Mary’s School for an interview. Accordingly, he went to the school with his son where they checked documents and asked him to come after 15 days.”

Exactly 15 days later, the police officer said, Yadav got a call from a person who identified himself as Swamy Francis from the administrative department of St. Mary’s School. The man told the complainant that he knew that he had also applied to Campion School but the chances of his son getting admission in St. Mary’s School were slim unless he paid ₹2 lakh in donation.

“The complainant then in two installments paid ₹30,000 to the accused via UPI. However, he grew suspicious and approached the school where he learned that he had been cheated,” the police officer said.

“We have registered a case against the unknown cyber fraudster under section 419 (impersonation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and under 66 C (punishment for identity theft) and 66 D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act, 2000,” the police officer said and added investigations are on to find out how the accused got the complainant’s mobile number.

When contacted, Fr. Francis Swamy SJ, director of St. Mary’s School, said, “We appealed to all parents to be aware of the admission-related frauds. We have put out a notification on the school’s website stating that we do not accept donations.”

(With inputs from Niraj Pandit)