Odisha youth falls prey to 'male escort' con, loses Rs 94,000

BHUBANESWAR: The lure of sex and money has cost a 26-year-old man dearly. An Uttar Pradesh native, who works as a technician in Bhubaneswar, has allegedly been duped of Rs 94,000 on the promise of working with an escort service provider and serve high profile clients in the city and other parts of the country. 

The man received a telephone call at 10.00 am on Thursday with the caller identifying himself as a staff of an escort service provider. 

Initially, he took it to be a prank but the caller attracted his interest by saying as a male escort he will be provided at least 10 meetings in a month and paid minimum Rs 15,000 for each.

During their around 20 minute-long conversation, the caller put forth details of the deal and said the firm will take 50 per cent cut for each meeting. He sent the victim an audio clip to brief him about the joining procedure and their modus operandi like the client receiving and dropping, hotel expenses, etc. 

He would just have to make some payments for health insurance and other benefits.The caller also sent his visiting card to the victim on WhatsApp which had a bank account number and IFSC code.

“I disconnected the call after listening to his offer. However, when I opened my Google Pay app on Friday morning to make some purchases, I found insufficient balance in my account,” said the victim of the con.

He checked his payment history and found out that the money was deducted from his account in about six transactions. The man recalled that he had received a call last month and the caller had identified himself as a staff of an e-commerce company.

“I had ordered a product online and had received it but the caller said that due to some technical reasons they were not able to dispatch the item. He asked me to provide my account number to refund the money and I had shared a dormant account’s number knowing that it was a fake call,” he said.

The victim suspects that the cyber fraud collected the details of his current bank account and kept him busy by engaging him in a long conversation as he did not even receive any message from his bank about the transactions from his account.

​Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash said that they have received the complaint and launched an investigation into the matter.