Looking for laundry service number online, man duped of over Rs 8 lakh

Gautam Buddha Nagar police registered an FIR against unknown persons for allegedly cheating a 70-year-old, who was looking for a customer care number of laundry services over the internet, an official said Thursday.
According to a complaint filed by Amarjeet Singh, he lost more than Rs 8 lakh last month. Police said that they have started an investigation to nab the accused.

“He and his wife were searching for laundry services over the internet. They got a number and called them. The receiver asked them to download an application to help them. After this, the receiver asked for some information like location and a four-digit code. Later, the phone got disconnected. Late afternoon, they received a message that a few lakhs had been deducted from their account,” said the officer.

He further said, “Next morning, they received another message that more money has been deducted. The app, which gives remote access to personal computers and other devices running the host application, helped the accused commit fraud. The victim filed a complaint in this regard on Wednesday and an FIR was registered.”

The complainant and his wife live in Noida sector 133 and the fraud allegedly took place on January 22 and 23. The couple had already reported the incident on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, but due to no action, they had to file a complaint with the police.

Sector 126 police station SHO Satendra Kumar said that an FIR under IPC section 420 (Cheating) and provisions of the Information Technology Act has been registered.