If you have be given scratch card by a web store company, mind about Mailing prize! The criminals may want to obtain your personal details and deceive you with different charges which must be paid for the same lakh prize.
At Central Crime Commission Crime Police Station Pallavi (name changed) made a complaint that she was conned between November 12, 2023, and June 19, 2024.
Pallavi received an email on November 12, last year. She noticed an envelope looking similar with something from ‘Meesho’ online shopping platform. There was a scratch-off coupon and a letter. Which said that the company was holding an eighth anniversary sweepstakes for its registered customers and she had been chosen as one of them.
The coupons have three grand prizes: Rs 15,500 cash reward, car and scooter. Pallavi scratched the coupon to find out it has cash reward of Rs 15.50 lakh mentioned thereon. She called both numbers listed in the letter. The scammer added that 4% tax should be paid by Pallavi to get this bonus. Where 1% is upfront while another remaining amount will be paid once she receives her bonus.
Then they posed as help desk staff who required her coupon number for verification purposes. Demanded images of these coupons along with her Aadhar card & bank account information from her side.
She sent these to them eventually receiving their response saying that they had checked all the data provided by her & would give her his won money. They told him to pay tax at a rate of only one percent; here is our account number too. She transferred initially fifteen thousand rupees into it. Afterward they asked that he would pay his CGST and SGST fees too. Later on they informed him/her that RBI blocked his/her funds because no objection certificate (NOC) should be transferred again within NOC Acceptance period being requested for by them. They siphoned off a total of 4.05 million rupees in seven months from twenty six different accounts on various pretexts. On June 19, the last transfer was made.
The housewife loses Rs 2 lakh
In another instance, a twenty-six year old housewife residing at RT Nagar ended up losing 2 lakhs of money that she never had to lose. She also got a scratch-off coupon worth INR 1.55 crore ($230,000) on December 2nd last year. She brought it to DJ Halli Police Station on May 24th after that incident happened. Meesho’s website has an advisory disclosing scams and encouraging customers to be cautious when responding to any messages sent out in its name.
GST officer’s iPhone snatched at Richmond Circle
Lately, the mobile phone which belonged to a thirty six years old tax assistant. Who worked with Tirupati department at GST was taken away by one of the motorcycle riders near Udupi hotel within Richmond Circle.
In his complaint to Ashok Nagar police G Yashavant said. He was robbed of his iPhone in front of Upadhyaya Hotel around 11.40 pm on June 22nd. He arrived from Tirupathi on June 22 and got down at Richmond Circle then he waited for taxi go home. It can be clearly seen as he stood alone with phone in hand by a rider on black motorbike without helmet passing by him. The indictment said he rode through Yashavant, snatched his mobile phone and sped towards Shanti Nagar.
A cell phone was bought for him by one of his family members who lived in another country last month. “I followed him up to 100 meters before he escaped”, Yasavant revealed as quoted in the article. I reported the matter to the police next day.
The police received some information from a camera which had been placed at that place. According to a senior official, an attempt is being made to catch this criminal.
