CHENNAI: A 24-year-old woman and a businessman were recently duped to the tune of Rs 45,000 and Rs 98,000 respectively in the city by cyber fraudsters. The criminals defrauded S Deepika (24) from Vyasarpadi by way of a WhatsApp message promising higher returns on investments. The message received on November 6, said Deepika would receive Rs 1,800 for every Rs 1,000 she invested through a link attached to the message.
“Believing the claim, Deepika sent a total of Rs 45,000 through the link in the next four days. However, she didn’t receive any returns. Upon realising that she was duped, she filed a complaint with police. Further probe is on,” police said.
In the second incident, R Varun Kumar (38) from Kilpauk, who runs a company that manufactures covers for pharmacies, recently received a message claiming that his electricity bill payment was pending. After Kumar made a payment of Rs 24,000, he received a call claiming to be tech support.
“The fraudster asked Kumar to install a ‘quick support team viewer’ application on his phone and through it, the cyber criminals managed to check all his bank details. Just minutes later, Kumar received two OTPs and a message stating that Rs 98,000 was withdrawn from his account,” said sources. A probe is on.