Two Tiruchy youths fall prey to online fraud, duped of Rs 9 lakh

Two youths from Tiruchy, aged 26 and 25, recently fell victim to online fraud, as they were allegedly duped of Rs 4.23 lakh and Rs 4.73 lakh respectively.
(Image used for representational purpose)
(Image used for representational purpose)

TIRUCHY: Two youths from Tiruchy, aged 26 and 25, recently fell victim to online fraud, as they were allegedly duped of Rs 4.23 lakh and Rs 4.73 lakh respectively. Both of them lodged separate complaints with the cyber crime police via their online portal on Thursday.

While M Surendar, desperately hunting for a job, fell for an online job scam, Vaishali lost Rs 4.73 lakh in an 'e-commerce platform'. Both the online platforms, coincidentally or not, had one thing in common: the name 'Amazon.' In the first case, Surendar, who applied for a job through UK.Indeed.com, an online job portal, received a reply from 'Ohumack construction group Amazon'.

Driven by excitement, he registered his details on the website without hesitation. Soon enough, his job application was approved and he was asked to prepare for an interview, which was later conducted via voice call from a foreign number. The interview went smooth and his profile was short-listed.

Within the span of a few days, the 'organisation' got back to him with a final round of processes, which included recording biometric details, security clearance and verification. A sum of Rs 4.23 lakh was charged as processing fee, which he paid promptly.

Finally, he boarded a flight to Delhi for visa approval, where officials of the British High Commission, to his utter dismay, revealed that the company was fake. Troubled by the scam, Surendar wrote several e-mails to the 'company', in vain. Later, he lodged a complaint through the cyber crime portal and a case was registered, sources said.

In a similar case of online fraud, Vaishali of Tiruchy, 25, lost a total of Rs 4.73 lakh after falling for an online scam on August. Having registered her name and other details in 'Amazon Mall', she received a phone call from an unidentified number that urged her to deposit an amount and buy products online. It was said that she would receive double the amount in return.

However, the anticipated returns never came her way even after depositing amounts in intervals, and she was left with no choice but to lodge an online complaint with the cyber crime police. Cyber crime officials, commenting on the issue, said such crimes have been on a rise, adding that it could be controlled only if netizens are more vigilant.

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