How a man lost Rs 3.96 lakh buying desert rose seeds online

A person who received the phone call said he was unable to hear the victim and would call back from another number.

Accordingly, in a few minutes, the victim got a call from another mobile number from a fraudster identifying himself as Imran Khan.

The victim said he wanted to file a complaint regarding the desert rose seeds parcel. The fraudster assured to help the victim after receiving fees of Rs 5. The victim transferred Rs 5 to the fraudster through Google Pay. But the said transaction got cancelled. So the fraudster again called the victim over the mobile phone. But the victim did not receive the call, the FIR stated.

It further mentioned that on July 29, the victim received a call from the banker about suspicious transactions of thousands of rupees from his bank account. The victim asked the bank to block his account. But on the next day, suspicious transactions were occurred from his other bank accounts.

As stated in the FIR, a total of Rs 3,96,499 were debited from bank accounts of the victim, without his knowledge and consent on July 29 and July 30. The money was transferred to various fraudulent bank accounts through 17 online transactions.

He then filed a complaint at the Cyber police station. After verification of his complaint, an FIR was lodged against unidentified cyber fraudsters under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections 318(4),319(2) and section 66(d) of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

Police are probing the mobile numbers and bank accounts used by the fraudsters for committing the crime. Police suspect the cyber criminals gained access to the bank accounts of the victim and then transferred money from it into mule accounts. Senior police inspector Santosh Khetmalis is investigating the case.