Bengaluru man loses Rs 1 lakh to cybercrook posing as niece's friend
A Bengaluru resident lost Rs 1 lakh to a cybercriminal who impersonated his niece’s friend and offered to help pay urgent MBBS college fees. The incident, which led to a police complaint in CK Achukattu, occurred after the victim was convinced to transfer the money via Google Pay to avoid foreign exchange deductions.
The complainant, identified under the pseudonym Naveen, filed a case with the CK Achukattu police after realizing he had been defrauded. According to the police complaint, Naveen's sister-in-law’s daughter is currently pursuing her MBBS degree abroad.
The student urgently required funds to clear her college fees ahead of her upcoming exams. She had informed her family that she might be barred from writing her exams if the payment deadline was missed.
During this stressful situation, a woman contacted Naveen and introduced herself as Deepika, claiming to be a friend of his niece. Deepika proposed an alternative method to send the money, claiming that routing the transfer through an acquaintance’s account would bypass foreign exchange deductions, ensuring the full amount reached the student.
Believing her claim, Naveen transferred a total of Rs 1 lakh in two transactions of Rs 98,000 and Rs 2,000 using Google Pay to the account provided by Deepika on May 9.
Immediately after the transaction went through, the woman switched off her mobile phone and went incommunicado. Naveen’s subsequent attempts to contact her were unsuccessful.
Naveen delayed reporting the incident to the police because one of his relatives had been hospitalised. He eventually approached the local authorities to lodge an official complaint.
The CK Achukattu police have registered a case under the Information Technology Act as well as Sections 318 (cheating) and 319 (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
A senior police officer stated that the cybercriminals targeted Naveen by pretending to be Deepika to trick him into sending the money. An investigation into the matter is currently underway.
