Responding to an advertisement from a 'woman' seeking someone who could make her pregnant has led to a man from Pune being conned of Rs 11 lakh by cybercriminals.
The man, a contractor, came across an advertisement online which said, "Looking for a man who can make me pregnant". Believing that the ad was real, the man responded and began being asked to pay some fees up front. Officials said these included 'initial fees, membership fees, privacy fees' and various other charges, and he was repeatedly told the "work" would not be completed until he paid up.
The man ended up transferring Rs 11 lakh to the people on the other end, who turned out to be cybercriminals. After the messages stopped, the man realised he had been duped and filed a police complaint.
Officials said an investigation has been launched, and they are trying to figure out who was behind the con so that action can be taken against them. They also warned people against responding to such advertisements.
Police and other authorities have also been cautioning people not to fall for 'digital arrest' scams in which they are told that their IDs were used for a crime and legal action is threatened unless people pay large amounts of money.
In a recent such case, a 78-year-old retired Central government employee in Hyderabad was cheated of Rs 51 lakh. The fraudster posed as an assistant commissioner of police from Mumbai and said the pensioner's SIM card had been used in bomb blast and kidnapping cases.
The senior citizen was asked to transfer 95% of the money from his account to save himself from the "case" and was warned against speaking to anyone about it till it remained pending. He had been assured that the money would be returned.
A 73-year-old woman from Hyderabad was also conned of Rs 1.43 crore in a similar fashion earlier this month.
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