MANGALURU: Chandrashekar, a resident of Kadaba in Dakshina Kannada, who was imprisoned after becoming a victim of cyber fraud in Saudi Arabia for 11 months, returned home on Monday. He has been working for a private company in Saudi Arabia since 2022.
He had purchased a new cellphone and a SIM at a shop in Riyadh by submitting his thumb impression for the same.
“I received a direct message on my cellphone and I opened the link sent which was in Arabic. I didn’t know that it was a message sent by fraudsters. After several months, I was called by a nearby police station after a woman lodged a complaint that she lost SAR 22,000 from her account. Later, I came to know that when I opened the link sent to my phone, the fraudsters got access to my ID credentials and bank details and created a fake account in my name.
They siphoned off SAR 22,000 which is approximately Rs 4.9 lakh from the complainant’s account and transferred it to the fake account created. I was arrested on December 20, 2022, after spending seven months in prison. I got help from a few social activists and got shifted to station jail. The company where I worked, social activists and friends including Shridhar Gowda helped me a lot. Unfortunately, I didn't get any support from the Indian Embassy officials,” Chandrashekar told TNIE.
Chandrashekar was released a few days ago after he paid the amount to the complainant and also a fine. He left for India and reached Mangaluru via Mumbai on Monday night.