Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jan 12: Recently there were reports about unauthorised Chinese apps which granted loans by contacting people over the phone, and targetted the customers who did not repay. It has now transpired that there is a racket which plans to defraud people online in the name of Kaun Banega Crorepati, a game show hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.

A government servant from the city has lost thousands of rupees after getting trapped in such a racket where a call emanating from a Pakistani number defrauded him.

The person concerned got WhatsApp call on January 6 afternoon. The call was placed by his son, who was told in Hindi that his sim card had won a prize of Rs 25 lac and said that to receive this amount, a certain amount has to be remitted urgently. The fraudsters also sent a letter that had a seal of the central government, national flag, parliamentary house, prime minister etc which looked real. The cash was asked to be remitted to one Rana Pratap from Punjab.

The person believed the callers and remitted Rs 8,200 to this mobile number. Later, a sum of Rs 25,000 was extracted by the callers to open password of the bank account. A further amount of Rs 45,000 was sent to meet income tax liability on Rs 25 lac. Thereafter, the employee got a scanned copy of a printed cheque that bore his name and the amount mentioned was Rs 25 lac. The callers asked to remit further Rs 75,000 and to give old sim card numbers. As an amount of Rs 78,200 was already paid, the man understood that he was duped.

When the number was contacted, they refused to refund the money. Now, the aggrieved person has planned to file a complaint with the cyber crime police station.