A 44-year-old owner of a preschool in Panvel lost Rs1 lakh to a cyber fraudster while receiving payment for the admission of two children. The woman was approached by a purported army man who claimed to be posted at the border.
Received WhatsApp call for admission at preschool
The complainant received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number on April 10. The caller showed interest in enrolling his two children at her preschool and offered to make the payment in advance through Google Pay. The caller said his wife would visit the school later and sought a QR code to make the payment.
As the school owner is habituated with Google Pay payments, she shared the QR code. However, the fraudster feigned technical problems in making the payment and shared a code through Google and assured double refund if she would send the money first. Initially, the owner sent Re1 and received a refund of Rs2.
Victim sent amount hoping to get double in return
After she was convinced that she would get back the bigger amount as well, she sent Rs48,000 to another UPI ID. After some time, she received another WhatsApp call and the caller informed her that the amount hadn’t been received. She transferred another Rs48,000 and received two messages of debit. The fraudster again said he hadn’t received the amount and asked her to pay Rs4,000 to get back the entire amount.
Later, when she didn’t receive any payment or refund and told the fraudster that she would approach the court, he disconnected the call and became incommunicado.
Realising she had been cheated, she approached the Panvel city police and registered a case under the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act.
