A 32-year-old man from Nerul lost Rs 2.18 lakhs to a cyber fraudster while applying for an alleged online scheme. In order to return the invested money, the cyber fraudster kept taking money and later stopped responding. A case of cheating under the IT Act has been registered at Nerul police station.
The complainant received a message on his WhatsApp number regarding investment in an online scheme on eBay. The message had a link for registering to invest money. According to police, the complainant clicked the link and followed the registration process and he was given an ID number. After completion of registration, a customer care executive who identified herself as Venis asked him to deposit money in an eBay wallet.
Venis informed the complainant that he can withdraw money after completing a mission and asked him to keep depositing money in the wallet. He initially deposited Rs 18,000 and Rs 100,000. Later Venis asked him to buy products for Rs 50,000 from the site and she would send the commissions. He did the shopping for Rs 50,000.
After a few days, she sent another message, asking him to deposit Rs 50,000 again and said that he will be then able to withdraw the whole amount. He transferred Rs 50,000 to the wallet. However, this time, the deposited money was not reflected in the wallet. He informed the customer care executive Venis. She ensured that it will reflect in one or two days. Similarly, she kept giving new deadlines and later stopped responding.
Finally, the complainant realized that he was cheated and approached the Nerul police station and a case was registered under section 420 of IPC for cheating and section 66 C of the IT Act 2000.
