MARGAO: A gang of Delhi-based cyber criminals swindled a Curchorem seaman of Rs 2.5 lakh over the course of a few months. They sent him letters from a multinational automobile company informing that he had won a prize worth crore of rupees; they also attached photos of keys being handed over to other ‘winners’. A cheating complaint has been filed with the cyber crime division. This is not the first such fraud; scammers are known to stalk seamen and businessmen on social media, like Facebook, before luring them in with a ‘prize’.
Curchorem seaman Sanket Asolkar had returned from his voyage some months ago. He received an e-mail from one Collin Paul, informing that he had won a Chevrolet car and Rs 3.5 crore. The mail then asked him to deposit Rs 15,000 in the company’s account to claim the prize. Sanket later spoke to ‘Collin’, who informed that the prize was from Chevrolet. He deposited the money into Collin’s account and thereafter was constantly in contact with him.
Sanket was also asked to pay Rs 49,000 towards taxes in the External Affairs Ministry, to which he complied. He had also deposited money in the accounts of Central Bank and Canara Bank over five times.
After a month, Sanket began to doubt Collin’s’ intentions, and when the latter demanded an additional Rs 4,700, Sanket demanded to see the papers of the deal. Collin mailed a copy of a Finance Ministry certificate signed by the Revenue Department Director Renu Jain and a certificate of the Reserve Bank of India, which ordered Sanket to pay the company an additional Rs 30, 500 Rupees.
When Sanket raised apprehensions about the large sum, Collin sent him a copy of the receipts and clearances of Delhi police. The copies were real enough to satisfy Sanket, and to woo him further, they sent him a letter from the company director, which asked him to pay Rs 4, 800. As before, he complied.
Later, a person claiming to be calling from the United Kingdom informed Sanket that the prize money was brought to Dabolim airport and he had to deposit Rs 3,200 in the company’s bank account to claim it.
Now suspicious, Sanket headed to the Curchorem police station, where he was informed that he had been scammed. He submitted a few phone numbers from which the scammers had contacted him. Two of the other scammers were identified themselves as Simi Chopra and Lakshman. Curchorem police later traced the numbers to Delhi.
Similar cases have been recorded in Salcete. However, the police are unable to trace these cyber criminals.
