Fake emails from ‘US embassy’ cheat Pune man with job offer from New York hospital
A Shukrawar Peth resident who had applied online for a medical typist job received mails announcing his appointment as a medical typist for a New York hospital and transferred the money to an Indian account.
3 min read
An FIR in the case was registered at the Khadak police station last week by the Shukrawar Peth resident, who works with a diagnostics centre in Pune. A 37-year-old man from Pune has been cheated through fraudulent communications from fake email addresses of the United States embassy and a noted hospital in New York. Funds to the tune of Rs 2.7 lakh were sought from him after he received a letter announcing his appointment as a medical typist for the multispeciality hospital, police said.
An FIR in the case was registered at the Khadak police station last week by the Shukrawar Peth resident, who works with a diagnostics centre in Pune. He had applied through employment websites for the position of medical typist. The job entails typing and transcribing medical documents and records from healthcare facilities.
On June 4, he received a mail from a fake email address of the New York-based hospital saying that his biodata had been shortlisted for the position of medical typist. In subsequent mails, fraudulent documents titled employment form, employment agreement contract and visa recommendation letter were sent to him and he was told that a fee in Indian rupees equivalent to an amount of US dollars would have to be paid for the process.
He subsequently received letters from a fake email address of a person posing as an officer from the US embassy. One document was titled USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) Immigration Support and another was a form on the fake letterhead of the US embassy. He was made to transfer Rs 32,800 to an Indian account. Subsequently an amount of Rs 65,900 was sought from him on the pretexts like medical certificates and insurance documents. He made the transfers through an online payment application, according to the police.
In the second week of July, he was asked for Rs 1.74 lakh more as “proof of funds in bank account”. He transferred the amount in three instalments.
A while later, the complainant called the number of the New Delhi office of the USCIS. He got to know that no application in his name had been received, after which he realised that he had been cheated out of Rs 2.7 lakh. He subsequently approached the police. An officer from the police station said that a probe has been launched into bank accounts and phone numbers used in the cyber crime.
You May Like
Photos
