(Image source from: timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

An NRI woman served as a victim in the state’s biggest online frauds of Karnataka. The NRI woman who was 60- years- old has lost Rs 1.67 crore to the fraudsters as she had been convinced that she had won an online lottery of ten lakh pounds which is said to be around Rs 9.3 crore.

She had been asked to wire the money and was also said that she should be paying legal notarisation for receiving the prize money that she had won in the lottery.

The victim being an NRI woman named Ambujakshi Srinivas has said to had been received a call from an unknown man who has addressed himself as Brown and that he was an agent of a major manufacturer of electronics. He had also said that he was from London and had been residing in Delhi.

The victim has been said that he mobile phone had won a lottery in the promotional raffle draw of the company. Identifying himself as an agent of the company, he said that the company organizes a raffle draw every year in order to alleviate the poverty and had said to the victim that she had won 10 lakh pounds in the same.

The victim had been asked to pay Rs 79,900 for the legal notarization in order to receive the prize amount that she had won in the raffle draw lottery. Brown has then referred to several people who have started making calls and asked Ambujakshi Srinivas to pay money as deposits in order to get the prize money.

The victim has been transferring the amount to various accounts which has ended up to be around Rs 1,67,42,400 that has been transferred to different accounts as she was asked to do so by different people who had been referred by Brown.

The woman has realized that she had been a victim to the online fraud and had filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Division (CCD) of the Criminal Investigation Department and the police of the Cyber Crime Division have booked the accused under the IT Act for getting indulged in cheating and the efforts are being made in order to nab the fraudsters.

It has been said by a senior official of the Cyber Crime Division that the fraudsters mainly target the senior citizens and the fake RBI receipts would also been provided by the fraudsters in order to make their victim believe in the procedure.

This incident had been recognized as the biggest online fraud in the state until now.

The victim has been identified as an NRI whose family has lived in Jamaica for about two decades and that both her husband and her son are doctors.

By Shrithika Kushangi