PUDUCHERRY: In what seems to be an exacerbation of cybercrime scams in Puducherry, the cybercrime wing has reported that over the past four days, 24 individuals from Puducherry have lost Rs 72 lakh to online frauds. Among those defrauded, include a retired headmaster, an HR manager, and an IT professional.
According to police, the retired headmaster was contacted by an individual from Syria through Facebook. Claiming to be retiring as well and seeking to invest $ 4.5 million in India, she approached him for help. She told him that she would send a part of the money to him through a parcel, and manipulated him into sending Rs 43.90 lakh over 13 transactions to various bank accounts. Other individuals posed as Reserve Bank of India officials, Indian Embassy representatives, and intermediaries, and coerced him to part with his savings to receive the parcel.
While another individual, identified as Harish, fell prey to an imposter pretending to be an HR manager from a well-known e-commerce company and lost Rs 4.90 lakh, an IT professional, Sathya, was duped of Rs 3.19 lakh under the guise of online investment.
Another person named Shankar lost Rs 3.25 lakh to an online investment scam. Two more victims were tricked into purchasing overpriced items on OLX and lost a total of Rs 85,000. Additionally, five individuals were tricked into revealing their OTPs under the guise of updating their PAN cards. This led to a collective loss of Rs 1.42 lakh.
Police, including Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) Bhaskaran and Inspector Keerthi Karthikeyan, have underscored that greed remains the driving factor behind these scams. Authorities urged citizens to scrutinise online advertisements, investment opportunities, and job offers. They also advised people to refrain from clicking on links sent via SMS or social media platforms and cautioned against answering calls from unfamiliar foreign numbers.