Mumbai: A gym trainer in pursuit of solving some issues sought the help of online problem solvers and got cheated of ₹1.99 lakh.
According to the information received from the Bhoiwada police, Vivek Mane (38) came across an advertisement on Instagram about an online consultant. There was also a mobile number on it. Mane called that number and explained his problems. The person who received the call collected complete details from Mane and obtained the phone number of the girl he wished to marry. He assured Mane that the girl would call him within three days. He then asked Mane to transfer the processing fee of ₹100 online, which he did.
A call from an astrologer
After five days, a person introduced himself as an astrologer called Mane and said that his problem is big. The caller then told him that in order to solve his problem a Maulana had come from Dubai. When Mane contacted Maulana, the man described Mane's past and his love affair. The Maulana assured the victim that he would fix everything. Mane sent ₹4,100 through Google Pay on December 11 as a fee, then again ₹7,000. On December 12, the caller again demanded ₹18,000.
Meanwhile, Mane was getting frequent calls from the girl, but Maulana had prevented Mane from picking up the calls. However, on January 23, he again got a call from the same number which he picked up. However, on hearing the voice, he got suspicious. To clear his doubt Mane messaged the girl asking whether she had called him, to which the girl replied in negative.
When the victim explained this to the Maulana, he said there are restrictions on the girl and demanded one lakh to remove the restriction, but Mane refused. But, Maulna threatened the victim saying that if he did not give him the money, his entire family would be in danger. Scared Mane paid ₹15,000 through Google Pay.
However, Maulana kept on asking money from the victim for different reasons. Finally, Mane realised that he was being cheated. He lodged a complaint at the Bhoiwada police station. On Mane's complaint, the police have registered an FIR and started investigation.
(To receive our E-paper on WhatsApp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
