‘Olympics lottery’ fraudsters under EOW scanner

The case was registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on October 19. An inspector,who is the complainant,mentioned in the FIR that the matter was taken up with senior officials,after which police decided to contact the fraudsters.

Police said they came to know about the fraud through reports of people being fleeced on the pretext of getting their reward from a British diplomat from near the IGI Airport. After the exchange of emails between the inspector and the people behind the fraud,a case was registered under Sections 420 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code .

The police were trying to identify the source of the text messages and the email that states the terms and conditions of the lottery. “After London Olympics,people received texts from a particular number saying that the recipient had won Rs 7 crore. The sender would ask for identification details to be sent to the email ID: olympics2012.uk@hotmail.com,” a police officer said.

The inspector (complainant in the FIR) said when he sent a mail to their address,the fraudsters told him that his winnings had been dispatched and would be brought to the Capital by a diplomat.

“In the email,they said that a diplomat would come to the IGI Airport with a parcel containing the winnings. The email also names the diplomat and asks the ‘winner’ to pay a sum of Rs 20,000 as the diplomat’s travel expenditure. Like other similar cases,once the money is received,they stop all communication,” the police officer said.