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Journalism of Courage
An elderly trader of herbal medicines in Pune was allegedly cheated of Rs 4.75 lakh by online fraudsters who offered to purchase medicines for knee pain from him and asked the man to make multiple online payments to check “if the transfer of funds was taking place”.
A First Information Report in this regard was registered at Vishrambag police station on June 2 by the 73-year-old victim, who is a resident of Shaniwar Peth, police said.
According to officers, the complainant recently got a call from some people who showed interest in purchasing medicines for knee pain. The callers gained his trust by praising the products and showing interest in purchasing multiple boxes of the medicine. When the complainant asked for advance payment, the caller said he wanted to check whether the online transfers between their accounts were happening properly.
On this pretext, the accused sent a Quick Response (QR) code to the victim, asked him to scan it and make a sample payment. An officer from Vishrambag police station said, “When the complainant scanned the code and made the payment, the caller said he did not receive any money, and continued to send him code after code to scan.”
“Trusting the caller and not realising that he was losing large sums from his account, the complainant made at least half a dozen transfers, totalling Rs 4.75 lakh. He stopped only after his wife realised that he was being cheated and asked him to stop making the payments,” the officer said.
After multiple failed attempts to contact the caller, the complainant approached the police and registered an FIR under the Information Technology Act and under sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating and impersonation.
