BELAGAVI: A movie buff in Belagavi got conned by a spam message on his mobile phone, stating that he had won Rs 12.5 lakh in a quiz contest, and became poorer by Rs 83, 600!
The victim, Mohan Ram, happened to watch a TV programme a week ago in which the TV anchor had asked viewers to identify to identify two TV actors whose faces were blurred.
He identified them correctly and texted the answer to the phone number mentioned on TV screen. Two days later, he got a call on his phone congratulating him for winning a prize money of Rs 12.50 lakh for correctly identifying the actors.
He was asked to deposit Rs 83,600 in a bank account as a 'surplus charge' so that his prize money could be credited to his bank account directly. He also received a message requesting him to deposit Rs 83,600 in a SB account of Punjab National Bank's Balangad branch in Haryana.
The moment Mohan deposited the amount, he received a call from one Deepak Mehta, who confirmed about the amount being credited to the account in Haryana. Later, Mohan confirmed the caller's name as Deepak Mehta through the true-caller and was sure of receiving the prize money in two days, as promised by Mehta. However, to Mohan's shock, Mehta's phone neither reachable nor was the money credited to his account.
After Mohan lodged a case at Camp Police Station on Wednesday, the investigating officers found that the amount deposited by Mohan in Punjab National Bank, Haryana was immediately withdrawn at an ATM in New Delhi.
The Belagavi police are seeking information from the bank about the account-holder and CCTV clippings of ATM from where the amount was withdrawn in New Delhi.
