Bengaluru: A car mechanic lost over Rs 1 lakh to a 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' scam over a period of 10 days after he deposited the money into multiple bank accounts handled by fraudsters. It was all for Rs 35 lakh, which the fraudsters claimed Ismail Sharief had won in a lucky draw.
On January 5, 2017, Ismail who works as a car mechanic on the roadside at Shivajinagar got a call from one Ratan Das, who claimed that Ismail had won Rs 35 lakh in a lucky draw and asked for his account details to deposit the amount.
Ismail initially ignored the call, but the fraudster called him again the next day and insisted that he give his bank details immediately for the transaction to happen. Ismail believed the caller and sent his bank details without a clue as to what awaits him.
Two days passed, and he did not hear anything from the fraudster, Ismail told Deccan Chronicle. On Jan. 7, he received a call from the fraudster asking him to deposit Rs 25,000 as transaction charge. "The call seemed genuine and Rs 25,000 did not seem a big deal as I was getting Rs 35 lakh. I deposited the money and sent the receipt to the person who called me," Ismail said.
Later, Ismail received another call and this time, the fraudster convinced Ismail to cough up Rs 35,000 towards TDS. This, however, did not stop until Ismail deposited Rs 1.30 lakh into four accounts of SBI and Syndicate Bank in different states. "The fraudsters did not leave a reason for to me to doubt the authenticity of the lucky draw. They sent me the certificate which had my name and photo and the amount I had won. I had only Rs 20,000 and the rest I got it by selling my wife's jewellery. Now I don't even have enough money to buy poison and commit suicide," Ismail said.
Four people, Ratan Das, Rahul Kumar, Dev Sharma and Karthik, called Ismail and gave him their account numbers in which the victim deposited the money. After depositing Rs 1.30 lakh, Ismail told the fraudsters that he had no more money and asked them to return the amount he had deposited, saying he was not even interested in the winning amount.
The fraudsters then told him to borrow Rs 100 from his friends and to buy poison for himself and his family to die. On January 11, Ismail approached the Cyber Crime police and lodged a complaint. The police are trying to trace the account holders.
Your mobile number is lucky
Ismail initially hesitated as he had neither answered any question of KBC nor was KBC hot seat aspirant. But, the fraudsters were clever.
"When I asked him how I had won in the lucky draw without having participated in it, the fraudster told me that Airtel had given 25,000 customer numbers as part of New Year bonanza in which my number was shortlisted. I never had any doubts as they kept in touch with me and sent certificates on my WhatsApp," Ismail said. The fraudsters had also made a video with KBC background and Sony's logo, in which they flashed Ismail's mobile number as one of the winners to further convince him.
Got calls from his own number
Ismail, who was happy with the winning amount and was dreaming of a better tomorrow, received a jolt when he got a call from his own mobile phone number.
But on the other end of the line was the fraudster. "I used to get calls from my own mobile number which was flashed in the video and 123*.
I had a doubt but was blinded by the winning amount," Ismail said.
