A 25-year-old man in Navi Mumbai’s Koparkhairane never realised in his wildest of dreams that an internet search will cost him Rs 1.5 lakh and weeks of mental torture. The man, who has an engineering degree, searched online for a medicine, after which he was contacted by a couple of men who offered him the drug for Rs 5,000.
A couple of days later, he was contacted by the same people who told him that the medicine he had ordered was illegal and that the police were now looking for him. The man got scared to such an extent that he paid Rs 1.5 lakh to ‘settle’ the matter, only to realise he had been duped.
The Koparkhairane police said that on September 1, the victim searched for the medicine and came across a website. His biggest mistake – he entered his mobile phone number on the website – after which he got a call from a man who identified himself as Sajid Hussain and told him he will get the medicine for Rs 5,000.
According to the police, Hussain told the victim that his associate named Amit Patel will deliver the medicine. A day later, another man called up the victim and identified himself as Amit Patel. “The man, claiming to be Patel, said that the medicine was illegal and that he was arrested for dealing in it. The man scared the victim saying the police were about to arrest him as well for ordering the medicine. He along with accomplice made him pay Rs 1.5 lakh through online transfers and continued to demand more money,” a police officer said.
Fed up of the threats, the man told his family members about the incident, after which he approached the police.
A first information report was registered last week under the Indian Penal Code sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating) and Section 66D (cheating by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
