Falling prey to a new way of scamming people, a 45-year-old woman was looted as she sent them Rs 18 lakhs to the fraudsters in the city of Bangalore.
A new scam has come into limelight where the scammers send scratch cards to people on pretext of e-commerce websites and loot their money.
As per the report of Deccan Herald, a scratch card claiming to be from the e-commerce website Meesho was delivered to the woman from Bangalore’s Annapoorneshwari Nagar. it was accompanied with a letter of contact details and instructions. After scratching the card, it stated that she had won a lottery of Rs 15.51 lakhs.
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After promptly calling the provided number in the letter and informing about the same, she was asked to send photos of her scratch card and proof of identity by the person on the other end. He also instructed her to pay 30% taxes upfront due to lottery ticket illegality in Karnataka, leading her to transfer money several times between February and May. She was promised of receiving the full transferred amount and lottery winnings upon document clearance, she reportedly transferred ₹18 lakh via RTGS.
Following no response from the other end, she turned to the police, leading to a case being filed under relevant sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) for identity theft, cheating through personation using computer resources, and cheating by personation; notably, the sale and distribution of lottery tickets are prohibited in Karnataka.
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Fraud and scams are significant issues in India, posing challenges for individuals, businesses, and law enforcement due to their widespread impact and the evolving tactics used by perpetrator. According to a recent report from the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, digital financial frauds have amounted to an astonishing ₹1.25 lakh crore in the past three years.
