Cybercrooks dupe Pune techie with fuel pump dealership bait

PUNE: A 38-year-old software engineer with a prominent IT company ended up losing Rs 1.75 lakh to cybercrooks in March after dealing with a bogus website featuring an ad that offered a petrol pump dealership.
Based on the techie's complaint, the Chinchwad police have registered a case for offences under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (punishment for cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
An officer from the Chinchwad police said the techie wanted to start a petrol pump. While searching for dealerships online, he came across a website with an ad for such an opportunity. "The techie applied for the dealership and on March 18, paid Rs25,000 for application charges through a QR code mentioned on the site," the officer said.
On March 23, the techie found that his name had been 'selected' through a lucky draw on the website. "He was told to transfer Rs1.50 lakh as a security deposit, which he did on March 23," the officer said.
When the techie informed his father, the latter alerted him to cross-check before sending money. "When the techie checked the authenticity of the website, he found that it was a fake," said the officer.
The techie then contacted the bank and found that his money had been transferred to some account in a public sector bank. "We have sought the details of the transactions from the bank," the officer added.