<p class="rtejustify">A city-based businessman was duped of over Rs 24 lakh in a lottery scam after conmen mailed him informing him that he was selected as a lucky winner and won a UK online lottery of Rs 1.07 crore. The mail that was sent to the victim’s personal email ID in May also instructed him to dial a few phone numbers to claim his prize.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Nagaraju M, a resident of Basaveshwaranagar in Hoskote called up the number which was answered by Sanjay Kumar and Sonia Sharma, claiming to be representatives of a company that was assigned the work of dispatching the prize amount.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Both the callers asked Nagaraju to pay processing fee, income tax dues and clearance fees. They mentioned that the demonetisation effect had made their work tougher. Nagaraju believed they were genuine and transferred Rs 24,27,200 to over 12 bank accounts till June 13 before the callers asked him to wait till the prize amount gets transferred to his bank account.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The fraud came to light when Nagaraju, even after waiting till July this year, did not get any credits into his account. He realised that he was duped when he found their mobile phones switched off.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The Hoskote police registered an FIR under various sections of the I-T Act and have begun investigations. The police said they are tracking the accused through the call detail records (CDR) and are also approaching the banks where the money was transferred.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The lottery scamsters were getting the money transferred to nationalised bank accounts. It takes considerable amount of time for banks to process requisitions to freeze banks accounts, a senior police official said.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">A city-based businessman was duped of over Rs 24 lakh in a lottery scam after conmen mailed him informing him that he was selected as a lucky winner and won a UK online lottery of Rs 1.07 crore. The mail that was sent to the victim’s personal email ID in May also instructed him to dial a few phone numbers to claim his prize.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Nagaraju M, a resident of Basaveshwaranagar in Hoskote called up the number which was answered by Sanjay Kumar and Sonia Sharma, claiming to be representatives of a company that was assigned the work of dispatching the prize amount.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Both the callers asked Nagaraju to pay processing fee, income tax dues and clearance fees. They mentioned that the demonetisation effect had made their work tougher. Nagaraju believed they were genuine and transferred Rs 24,27,200 to over 12 bank accounts till June 13 before the callers asked him to wait till the prize amount gets transferred to his bank account.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The fraud came to light when Nagaraju, even after waiting till July this year, did not get any credits into his account. He realised that he was duped when he found their mobile phones switched off.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The Hoskote police registered an FIR under various sections of the I-T Act and have begun investigations. The police said they are tracking the accused through the call detail records (CDR) and are also approaching the banks where the money was transferred.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The lottery scamsters were getting the money transferred to nationalised bank accounts. It takes considerable amount of time for banks to process requisitions to freeze banks accounts, a senior police official said.</p>
