HYDERABAD: Intending to purchase 450 bags of Birla Cement for a construction project, a 60-year-old businessman from Shamirpet lost Rs 19.65 lakh after allegedly contacting cybercriminals posing as sales representatives.
On April 13, the victim contacted a number he found on Google while searching for the Birla Cement call centre. The person who responded identified himself as Akash, claiming to be a sales representative of Birla Group. He quoted a price of Rs 280 per cement bag, amounting to Rs 1,26,000 for 450 bags.
Akash told the victim that he was required to obtain a company membership to purchase cement directly at a discounted rate. He also demanded various payments for “departmental approvals”. To gain his confidence, the callers sent forged documents, including a GST registration certificate and a PAN card purportedly belonging to UltraTech Cement Ltd (Birla Group), along with a fabricated certificate of membership after receiving an initial payment of Rs 5 lakh.
Subsequently, the cybercriminal demanded additional amounts under various pretexts, including verification charges, sales department charges, godown department charges, GST charges and transport charges, falsely convincing the victim that the payments were mandatory for approval of the membership and cement supply.
Believing the representation to be genuine, the victim transferred a total of Rs 19.65 lakh over two months. Upon visiting the head office of UltraTech Cement Ltd in Mumbai, he realised that the fraudster had cheated him.
Based on his complaint, Malkajgiri cybercrime police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the incident.