A woman in Thittagudi in Cuddalore district was duped of ₹3.79 lakh by two online fraudsters, who sent her a prize coupon that had the name of Meesho, a social commerce platform, saying she had won a prize of ₹8.40 lakh for a purchase made online.
According to the Cuddalore Cyber Crime Police, the complainant had made an online purchase following which she received a prize coupon of ₹8.40 lakh. The woman contacted two WhatsApp numbers given on the coupon and two fraudsters, who introduced themselves as Sunil Kumar and Prem Kumar confirmed that she had won the prize.
The complainant was then asked to pay taxes, GST, processing fees, and other miscellaneous charges on different occasions, amounting to ₹3.79 lakh to avail of the prize. She kept paying the money till November 2022. However, when the fraudsters asked for additional money to release the prize amount, she realised that she had been cheated.
Following a complaint lodged by the woman, the Cyber Crime Police have booked a case under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code read with 66 D of the Information Technology Act, 2008.
Cyber Crime Police Inspector P. Kavitha said that a series of awareness campaigns was being conducted by the police about online scams. Unfortunately, people were falling prey to online scams and losing lakhs of rupees. “We have launched an investigation,” she said.
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