In his desperation to bag the lottery, regarding which he had received a text message, the man broke his late father’s fixed deposits, borrowed money from relatives and made 30 bank transfers totalling Rs46.35 lakh to15 accounts between May and August before he realised he had been taken for a very expensive ride.
The Bibvewadi police said the victim, a resident of Indiranagar, works as a deewanji (traditional accounts employee) with a prominent vegetable merchant at Market Yard. He filed a complaint with the cyber police and an FIR was registered on Wednesday.
Senior inspector Sunil Zavare said the complainant received an SMS on May 22 claiming that his mobile number was selected for a Rs22 lakh lottery. The man contacted the phone numbers mentioned in the SMS. “The suspect(s) asked him to pay different ‘taxes and fees’ to get the lottery. He ended up paying Rs46.35 lakh between May and August,” Zavare said.
The complainant told TOI on Thursday, “I continued to make the money transfers in the hope that the caller(s) would deliver on their promise. I wanted the money as I thought it would make my life easier.”
Zavare said, “The complainant’s father, a retired police constable, died a few years ago. He kept some fixed deposits, all of which the complainant broke. He also borrowed money from his friends and family.”
