An 81-year-old retired professor, who wanted to take a gas distributorship, had come across a fraudulent number during a random internet search. The victim ended up losing around Rs 4.96 lakh to the fraudsters who promised to give him distributorship and 600 cylinders.
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Badlapur. The victim in his complaint has stated that he wanted to get an LPG gas distributorship and was surfing about the same on the internet in July this year. The victim came across a mobile number on the internet to make enquiries for distributorship.
"The fraudster told the victim that he would have to pay a deposit for distributorship and for 600 cylinders which had to be taken mandatorily. On the instructions of the said person, the victim had paid Rs 4.96 lakh in the bank accounts provided to him. Since then the accused stopped communicating with the victim," said a police officer.
He added, "After all attempts to communicate with the accused failed, the victim reached the Andheri office addresses provided by the victim and realised that the office was closed since past many days. The victim then enquired with the nearby offices and learnt that many people had visited the said office claiming that they had been cheated."
The victim then approached the police on Wednesday and got a case of cheating registered in the matter.
