Man recovers ₹2.5L lost to cyber fraud by reporting it on portal

Chembur resident loses ₹3.80 lakh to cyber fraud, recovers ₹2.5 lakh by lodging complaint on central cybercrime portal.

MUMBAI: A Chembur resident who lost ₹3.80 lakh to cyber fraud by doing tasks online was able to recover around ₹2.5 lakh by swiftly lodging a complaint on the central cybercrime portal. The complainant, Vipul Sable, 31 works as a supervisor with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. According to the police, on November 9, Sable received messages on his telegram app at around 10:45 pm from several unknown persons, seeking to know if he was interested in earning more money by working part-time – by just clicking on social media posts.

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Sable agreed to do the part-time work. Initially, he completed the online task given to him and earned profits, which made him fall for the trap. Later, the accused induced him into earning higher sums, and he was made to ‘invest’ sums, as his online account showed attractive returns, which boosted his confidence.

Sable invested more and more money and continued to complete the tasks given by the frauds. Though he could check the balance in his online account, he could not withdraw the money, shown credited to his account. By the time he realised that he was being duped, he had already lost ₹3.75 lakh in eight transactions - six from his bank account and two from his mother’s bank account – to the frauds, said a police officer.

The complainant immediately reported the matter on the central cyber portal - cybercrime.gov.in and the agency concerned managed to freeze ₹2.5 lakh before the frauds could withdraw the money from the bank.

Sable received an e-mail on November 12 that he has

to contact his local police station and get a case registered as an amount of ₹2.50 lakh was frozen, added the officer. He then registered a case with the Chunabhatti police station on Wednesday against an unknown accused under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66 D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.