Berhampur: Two persons in the silk city allegedly fell prey to online fraud recently and ended up losing a total of Rs 92 lakh.
While a 40-year-old man from Ambapua lost around Rs 75 lakh in 13 transactions from Nov 28 to Dec 18 last year, a 30-year-old victim from Gosaninuagaon was allegedly defrauded of around Rs 17 lakh from Jan 12 to 15 while investing through an app. Both victims filed police complaints.
The victim from Gosaninuagaon, who filed a complaint at the cyber police station here, alleged he received a WhatsApp message and was asked to contact a person on another messaging app and send a payment code. When contacted, he was given tasks to complete and withdraw the money. Then he was given another user’s name on that app and asked to deposit.
After withdrawing, he was informed the total amount was Rs 17,68,372, and he was told to pay income tax and contact a consultant. He was told to pay 30% tax on the sum, which came to Rs 5,30,511, and get Rs 22,98,880. Thereafter, he realised he was cheated and filed an FIR.
Similarly, the victim from Ambapua was contacted by a person posing as a chartered accountant on a social media site and invited to join a WhatsApp group. On Nov 24, they tried to convince him to invest by trading through another person who claimed to be an investor. He started to invest from Nov 28 and put in around Rs 75 lakh in less than one month.
He said the group gave three types of trading calls in a day. First, they gave 5-10% profit on every alternate day. Secondly, they gave a weekly plan, which was said will create 80-100% profit. Thirdly, in index trading, they claimed to give 10% profit in 30 minutes, he added. In 13 transactions, he lost around Rs 75 lakh, the victim said, and filed a complaint with the crime branch, Cuttack, recently.