Noida resident duped of Rs12 lakh in cyber fraud

The police said that in the first week of August, Singh had received an email from one Jacob Herry, who claimed to be a purchasing manager with Ozomedicherb, a UK-based company. In the email, Herry was offering a partnership and to start a business of herbal seeds and had assured him of handsome earnings.

A 60-year-old businessman was allegedly duped of Rs12 lakh by a UK-based businessman who promised him high returns in herbal trade business. The alleged fraudster baited him through an email.

After an initial investment, the alleged fraudsters cut contact with the victim. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The businessman has been identified as Ramesh Singh, a resident of Sector 27.

The police said that in the first week of August, Singh had received an email from one Jacob Herry, who claimed to be a purchasing manager with Ozomedicherb, a UK-based company.

In the email, Herry was offering a partnership and to start a business of herbal seeds and had assured him of handsome earnings. Singh, who works in Delhi, fell into the trap and agreed to the partnership.

After agreeing to the deal, Singh claimed he was contacted by Herry, who said that his company had been importing herbal seeds from an Indian company and referred him to an Odisha-based woman, Wepang Moren, who provides quality herbal seeds.

Singh then contacted Moren and received some pictures of the herbal seed samples on his email. The pictures were sent to Herry, after which he approved the deal to purchase the seeds. He had placed an order for 10 packages, of 100 grams each.

Singh told the police that he bought seven packages of herbal seeds at a cost of Rs12 lakh through online payment and informed Herry of the same.

Meanwhile, Herry told him that he required 220 packages, which would cost around Rs50 lakh. He also assured of sending then send 9.46 lakh in dollars (Rs6 crore) as payment for the purchase.

Singh refused the deal, citing financial constraints, after which Herry and Moren stopped receiving his calls and did not respond to his emails.

Singh suspected foul play and found that these herbal seeds were available at cheaper rates, in comparison to the rates he procured from Odhisa. He later filed a complaint with the Centre for Cyber Crime Investigation (CCCI).

Vivek Ranjan Rai, inspector, CCCI, said, “The case is being investigated by us on the details we have been given. The whole incident reflects that a racket is being operated by the gang. Email addresses and websites have been found to be fake.”

The team is trying is to trace the location of the person through the IP address, he added.