Paradeep: A chicken trader from fishing harbour in Odisha’s Paradeep fell victim to cyber fraud, a source said Thursday.
The matter came to the fore after the victim identified as Prashant Nath lodged an FIR in this regard at Paradeep Marine Police Station Wednesday.
According to the FIR, Prashant received a phone call from an unknown number around 6am Wednesday. Upon answering the call, a man introduced himself as an Army officer and ordered 20kg of chicken from Prashant. The caller said he and his colleagues would stay in Paradeep for the next 15 days and would take 20kg of chicken from the trader per day.
During the phone call, Prashant was allegedly tricked by the caller and the negotiations were finalised.
The caller then asked Prashant to send bills on WhatsApp after getting the chicken for the day ready.
The alleged fraudster also informed Prashant that a vehicle would reach the latter’s place with money around 9am and receive the chicken from him.
As per the deal, Prashant prepared the order and dialled the caller at 9am. However, the man on the other side of the phone call said that he and his collogues were in a bank. Prashant was urged by the scammers to send a picture of his QR code via WhatsApp in order to receive payment.
After Prashant sent a picture of his QR code, the concerned person asked Prashant to send Rs 1 to him stating that the earlier transaction had failed and they wanted to ensure the validity of Prashant’s QR code. As told, the trader sent Rs 1 to them.
Later, Prashant was again asked by the fraudster to send another Rs 5 to check the functioning of the transaction with his QR code.
However, this transaction proved to be the final straw as Prashant’s bank account was deducted Rs 20,000 as soon as he sent Rs 5 to the caller, Prashant alleged.
The alleged scammer’s mobile phone has been switched off since Wednesday.
Later, Prashant approached the police after learning that he had been duped.
On the other hand, 20kg of chicken that Prashant had cut also degraded, the victim alleged in the FIR.
Marine Police station in-charge Babita Dalai said an investigation is underway in this regard.
PNN