Mangaluru: A 53-year-old man from Mangaluru allegedly lost Rs 7.2 lakh to cyber fraudsters who cheated him on the pretext of awarding him a lottery prize in an online Kerala lottery scheme.
However, when he later sought a refund of the amount transferred, neither the money he had paid nor the promised lottery winnings were returned. Realising that he had been cheated, he approached CEN crime police station, who registered a case against unidentified persons for allegedly defrauding him.
The victim was browsing Facebook at 8.30 pm on Sept 25 when he came across a video advertising the online sale of Kerala state lottery tickets, according to the complaint filed. Interested in purchasing a ticket, he contacted the mobile number, which was provided in the Facebook post, on Sept 27. The person who answered sent him a payment scanner through WhatsApp , following which the complainant transferred Rs 200 towards the lottery ticket. Around 4 pm the same day, he received a WhatsApp message from the same number claiming that he had won lottery prizes of Rs 12 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. Between Sept 27 and Oct 27, the victim transferred a total of Rs 7,22,804 from his bank accounts on different dates towards these purported charges.
The caller then told him that he had to pay taxes and other charges to claim the prize money.