Retired Navy officer loses ₹83,000 to online fraud

A retired navy officer was duped in an online fraud when he posted an advertisement on a portal to sell his old furniture. The Kalamboli police have registered a

A retired navy officer was duped in an online fraud when he posted an advertisement on a portal to sell his old furniture. The Kalamboli police have registered a case of cheating after he lost ₹83,000 through a suspected malware link.

HT Image

The complainant Jitendra Singh, 39, retired from the Indian Navy in January this year and lives in Kalamboli. In May, Singh had decided to clear out his old furniture from his apartment and was intending to replace them with new ones.

Police said Singh had posted an advertisement for the old furniture on the portal. On June 1, Singh received a call from a man named Nitesh Sherkar, who expressed interest in purchasing a double bed.

Sherkar agreed to pay ₹5,000 for the bed and told Singh that he would make the payment online. The accused told him that he would send a link and Singh would need to click on it to accept the money, as per the Kalamboli police.

When Singh received the link on his phone, he clicked on it several times. Through the process of the transaction, Singh lost ₹83,000 in the transaction.

He called Sherkar, who allegedly promised him that the transaction was due to faulty technical issue. Sherkar promised to return his money.

Later, he switched off his phone. Singh lodged a complaint on Friday.

“We have registered a case of cheating. We have sent the details to the cyber cell,” said Ramchandra Ghadge, inspector at Kalamboli police station.

Police said the cyber cell investigation will reveal if the fraud took place after the portal asked for the one time password (OTP). Singh was unaware that his money was being debited from his account when he entered his pin number or OTP.