Bengaluru man turns ‘cyber conman’ after losing money in online lottery scam

A man who lost money in an online lottery scam teamed up with the kingpin to defraud many people and make good his loss.

Appaji Gangaram Halkekar, 30, a Khanapur native working as a cook at the Kempegowda International Airport, had believed online fraudsters when they told him he had won a lottery. He paid thousands of rupees in the name of processing fee but got nothing in return. But that wasn’t the end of it.

A few months ago, a man named Harsheed called up Halkekar in order to cheat him with the lottery scam. Halkekar called his bluff and told him had already lost money.

Harsheed then asked Halkekar to join him and together they can cheat many people. This way, Halkekar could also recover his money. The idea appealed to Halkekar, and he came on board.

Harsheed asked Halkekar to open bank accounts in the name of his friends and offer them a commission. Halkekar got two of his friends — Suresh Mallappa Agasara, 35, also from Khanapur, and Mahantesh, 30, of Gadag — to open as many as 15 bank accounts. Harsheed offered them a commission of Rs 3,000 for every lakh earned through the scam.

Once this set-up was in place, Halkekar started calling up random people, luring them with the non-existent lottery money.

Harsheed also installed a clone app for WhatsApp using Halkekar’s phone number to receive the OTP and other details.

Profitable scam

The scam became so profitable that Halkekar, Agasara and Mahantesh earned Rs 3 lakh in commission.

Southeast CEN Crime police started tracking the gang after one Hanumantharayappa filed a complaint. He stated that he had transferred Rs 75,000 to various bank accounts as a processing fee for an online lottery prize. An unknown person had called him up and told him that he had won Rs 35 lakh in a lucky draw. But Hanumantharayappa never got the promised lottery money.

When police checked the bank accounts where Hanumantharayappa had transferred the money and the phone number he had received the calls, they zeroed in on Halkekar and his friends.

Police are now pursuing Harsheed, who went absconding after having promised to attend Halkekar’s wedding a few days ago. He never turned up.