Mumbai: A 28-year-old man was duped of Rs61,890 by fraudsters on the pretext of escort services. The scammers first shared photographs of a few women with the complainant and made him speak with one woman over WhatsApp call. He was then induced to pay money in nine online transactions.
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Kalachowki and works in a private company. On April 30, the man surfed on the internet about escort services and found a mobile number. The next day he contacted the said number and inquired about women escort. The scammer then shared the service charges and photographs of a few women, with the complainant on WhatsApp.
After the complainant selected one of the women from the photographs, he was made to speak to a woman over a WhatsApp conference call. The complainant was convinced that it was genuine and on the instructions of the scammer, he ended up paying Rs61,890 in nine online transactions. He was given the address of a hotel and informed that the woman would meet him at the said hotel. However, as the complainant reached the mentioned hotel, he found no woman as told by scammers.
He later asked for a refund but was told that he would receive the money in 30 minutes. Realising that he was cheated, the man approached the police. A case has been registered under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
