Two men allegedly duped a man of ₹1.56 lakh by pretending to be executives of a multinational company. They allegedly convinced him to fork out the money for a package worth ₹1.5 crore in US dollars.
In his complaint to the police, Rathnakar Joshi, a resident of Yelahanka New Town, claimed to have received a call last week from a person identifying himself as Steven who told him that he had won ₹1.5 crore in USD. He was then asked to provide his bank details so that the money could be transferred. Joshi obliged. A few hours later, Steven contacted him again and requested him to transfer ₹68,000 as processing fee.
According to the police, Joshi transferred the money. A few days later, Steven called again and asked ₹88,000 claiming the money was needed for various charges to reroute foreign funds to India. He allegedly told Joshi that his colleague would come to Bengaluru to deliver the cash in person. Joshi transferred the money and waited.
Last Thursday, a person identifying himself as Abraham called him. He claimed to have come with the cash and was waiting in Bengaluru City Railway Station.
Joshi met Abraham who handed over a briefcase stating that it contained ₹1.5 crore in US dollars. He cautioned him not to open the bag in the station for security reasons.
However, when the victim returned home and unlocked the briefcase, he saw that it was filled with paper.
Realising that he had been duped, Joshi lodged a complaint on Sunday.
The Yelahanka police have registered a case against Abraham and Steven, and are trying to trace them.