Versova senior citizen duped of Rs 1 lakh by cyber fraudster

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A senior citizen in Mumbai was allegedly duped of Rs 1 lakh by an unidentified cyber fraudster.

The 76-year-old man who is a resident of Versova was cheated through his friend's hacked email account.

According to police officials, "The victim had received an email from his friend who stays in the same building. The email sought for monetary help for a medical emergency."

As per the statement given by the victim, his friend had gone to America to meet his daughter. On Saturday, he received an email from his friend's Hotmail account that his daughter had given birth to a boy. A few minutes later, he received another mail from the same friend which said his relative Ram Naresh's wife had suffered a heart attack and that they needed Rs 1 lakh immediately for the surgery. The email attached with bank details requested the victim to transfer the money as he was not in India.

"Following this, the victim tried reaching out to Ram Naresh, but his phone was switched off. Taking the email seriously, the victim went to the bank and transferred the money to the given account details," said an officer from DN Nagar police station.

After sending a screenshot to his friend via WhatsApp, the victim learnt that his friend's Hotmail account was hacked and the hacker had been sending similar emails to all his contacts.

"We have registered the case under sections 419, 420 of IPC and various sections of the IT Act including sections 66 (c ) and 66 (d)," said senior inspector Milind Kurde of DN Nagar police station.