Thane: Senior citizens have been tricked by Rs 11.3 lakh by online cheat posing as a ‘special’ Indian coin buyer and suck up the number with a different tax excuse.
The police said that this was a new modus operandi they had found targeting residents who were easily fooled.
Last week, the victim saw a link online related to the purchase of Indian coins RS 5 and RS 10 online and filled out the form.
Both cheat poses as employees of two different companies and told him to send photos through the messaging application of 13 special coins with Dewi bearings etc., he had collected for years.
“Later, Conman showed interest in buying coins and said that they would pay Rs 45 lakh for it but told him that he had to pay different taxes such as registration, processing costs, GST and other taxes, which they usually do the process to release RS 45 Lakh against coins, “police said.
When the victim who did not suspect paid more than Rs 5 Lakh to charges from the first company and more than Rs 5 Lakh to the second company which also showed a sharp interest in buying coins and collectively paying Rs 11.3 lakh, the officer said.
Then, when the victim contacted the executives, they told him to pay more to release more than Rs 45 Lakh but did not transfer any amount to him.
The victim realized that he had been cheated and approached Vinay Rathod, DCP (Zone-5) who immediately registered a case of fraud and various parts of the Indian criminal code and the other relevant parts of the Information Technology Act at the Rudewadavli police station.
Rathod said, “We have launched an investigation in this case and further investigation is taking place.” The police have warned residents of the fall of prey for such fraud online or sent money to unknown people.