Petrol pump owner duped out of 8.9L

Vadodara: A petrol pump owner from the city was duped of Rs 8.89 lakh by a cyberfraud gang who created a fake website and promised him a petrol pump dealership. Sanjay Patel, a resident of Gotri, filed a complaint of cheating at Cybercrime police station. He told police that he was searching online for the website to apply for a CNG pump dealership of a private company few months ago.
He came across an advertisement on Facebook account and thought it was the official web page of the company. After registering, Patel received a phone call from a person claiming to be a representative of the company. The caller asked him to fill out some forms to proceed with the application.
He clicked on a form and registered himself, following which he got a call where the caller asked him to fill up some more forms with his details. A few days later, Sanjay received an email stating that in order to verify the land for the dealership, he would need to deposit Rs 49,000 as a verification fee.
The gang then started demanding more money from Patel under various pretexts, including a license certificate fee, no-objection certificate, and fees to be deposited in various govt departments. Patel ended up paying Rs 8.89 lakh, but when he was asked to pay another Rs seven lakh for final permission, he grew suspicious. Patel then visited the company's office and learnt that he was defrauded.