Karwar: Two different cases pertaining to online fraud have been registered in the Crime Branch police station here on Saturday, June 8.
In order to sell furniture via EMI mode, Vikram Manjunath, owner of Sriram Wood Works located at Banavasi Road had decided to tie up with Bajaj Finance Limited. He contacted their branch office which was in Haveri after searching for it on Google.
When he contacted the Bajaj Finance, a person named Karthik picked up the call and introduced himself as a member from the finance company and offered to assist Vikram. Vikram discussed with Karthik about his sale by EMI plan. Karthik told him that a nominal fee of Rs 10000 had to be paid to Bajaj Finance.
Karthik asked for Vikram’s PhonePe app number, sent him a link and guided him access it. Next, Karthik asked for UPID number, which Vikram readily provided. Next moment Vikram had instantly lost Rs 19000 from his account.
In a complaint filed with the Crime Branch police he has mentioned that, after that incident he had contacted the Bajaj Finance office at Haveri to find out if any employee by name Karthik was employed. They said that no such person existed in their office.
In another online fraud case, a person named Santavrathi, a resident of Mundgod has filed a complaint with the Crime Branch Police stating that he and his friends were victims of an online fraud and that they had lost their money deposited in the bank.
On May 30, Santavrathi had parceled a laptop to his brother in Hyderabad, through DTDC Courier Service. Later Santhavarthi received information that on June 4, the parcel handed over to his brother contained a bundle of papers instead of laptop.
He immediately informed the courier service after finding its number on Google. A courier staff member who received the complaint asked Santhavarthi to deposit Rs 10000 to register a complaint through PhonePe.
When Santavrathi was going through the process on PhonePe, he was asked the One Time Password (OTP) number. After Santhavarthi provided the same, the courier guy claimed that there was no permission for such bank transactions. When “other” details were sought, Santavrathi forwarded his friends’ Paytm number and also gave the OTP number after a transaction was initiated.
Immediately, Santavrathi lost Rs 6900 and his friend who also was a part of the whole transaction, lost Rs 25000.
In a complaint filed with the Crime Branch Police, Sarthavarthi has mentioned that a total of Rs 31,900 was withdrawn from their accounts.
