A 35-year-old gymnastics coach from Mumbai, recently lost his hard-earned money after falling prey to a social media fraud. The victim received a message from an unknown WhatsApp number which had a display photograph (DP) of a professor he knew. The professor asked him to urgently send her 20 e-gift cards worth Rs. 5000 each as she was not in possession of her ATM card at the said moment.
The victim managed to send her 18 e-gift cards and later found a status message from the professor wherein she had stated that someone has been impersonating her and asking for money from her contacts.
According to the police, on October 05th, when the victim, a Vile Parle resident, was at home, he received a message from an unknown number. The said number had the DP and name of a professor who was his acquaintance. The victim then began chatting with the said person assuming that she was the person he knew. After some time, the person told him that she needed some help. Since the person was known him, he agreed to help. She then asked the victim to send 20 e-gift cards, meant to pay for apps and music, worth Rs 5000 each. She said that she was in a meeting and did not have her ATM card because of which was unable to make the purchase.
Between 7:30 pm and 10:30 pm, the victim sent 18 gift cards worth Rs 90,000 to her. However, after some time, when the victim was going through the WhatsApp status of his contacts, he found a status of the professor wherein she had stated that someone had been impersonating her and had been demanding money from her contacts. The victim then called the professor and realised that he had fallen prey to the fraud. He then approached Vile Parle police and got an offence registered in the matter on October 06th.
The police have registered a case under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
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