Bhubaneswar: Cyber crooks often use emails to collect personal details of netizens or dupe them with fake financial offers. Many people have fallen into the trap of this emerging trend in crime despite continuous public awareness programmes by various government agencies.
In one such incident, a person from Cuttack has lost around Rs 45 lakh to a gang of cybercriminals involving a foreign lady. The cybercrime police station at the Crime Branch office in Cuttack has initiated a probe on the issue after registering a case on the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim August 17.
As per sources, the victim, Manas Ram Misra, 62, of Cuttack alleged that he received an email from one Ms Elizabeth from the UK who offered to partner with Misra to invest in some projects in India. However, Misra turned down her offer January 17, 2017.
Subsequently, she mailed an offer to make Misra the manager in the business she was supposed to finance in Odisha. Accordingly, Misra sent one signed agreement paper to Ms Elizabeth through email along with some shortlisted projects.
A few days later, Misra received a phone call from some alleged customs officials from New Delhi Airport informing him about the detention of Ms Elizabeth for holding a huge amount of foreign currency, British Pound. Elizabeth had reportedly come to India for business purposes.
They asked Misra to pay the fine in Indian currency on behalf of the accused lady which he refused and asked the customs officials to initiate action as per the law. Meanwhile, Elizabeth informed Misra that she had moved to Mumbai and deposited £1.5 million British pound sterling (Rs14.73 crore) in the Citi Bank’s branch in Mumbai. The accused lady informed Misra that she had mentioned him as the nominee while filing the account opening form.
Later, the accused, in order to win the faith of Misra, reached Odisha. She reportedly stayed at a hotel near Nalco Square in the Capital city where Misra also arranged a meeting of owners of various projects.
After around eight months, some unknown persons identifying themselves as staffers of Citi Bank informed Misra that Ms Elizabeth died.
They asked him to take necessary steps for transfer of Elizabeth’s money to his account. Misra allegedly deposited around Rs 45 lakh in various accounts as per the instructions of the cyber crooks who were posing as Citi Bank’s officials. However, upon receipt of the amount, they did not contact Misra and their cellphones were switched off.