Ahmedabad, October 7: An incident of fraud has been reported from Gujarat's Ahmedabad where a retired employee of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) was duped of Rs 40 lakh. The man was cheated by a fraudster on the pretext of promising him an Indian Oil Corporation petrol pump dealership. According to a report by TOI, the victim of the fraud registered a complaint on Tuesday of cheating against an unknown person.

The report further adds that the fraudster took Rs 39.60 lakh from him after promising to get him the petrol pump dealership. The victim, identified as 58-year-old Thakor Patel, is a resident of Saraspur. In his FIR with Cybercrime police, the man said that his son Bhargav Patel googled for IOC petrol pump dealerships and found a website. The duo which they later found was spurious but they somehow thought it was a genuine website. Ahmedabad Man Loses Rs 2.5 Lakh to Fraudster While Purchasing Gold Chain for Low Price.

The man's son filled in his details to apply for an IOC dealership on January 4. On January 18, he got a call from a person who promised attractive returns if he invested Rs 15 lakh in the business. On the same day, the man sought Rs 10,000 as ‘registration fees’ for the petrol pump dealership. After Bhargav paid the money as directed, the fraudster kept asking for various different amounts of money as different charges.

The TOI report states that Thakor used to give money to his son to pay the man and they ended up paying him Rs 39.60 lakh between January 27 and February 3, 2021. The fraudster told Bhargav that he would come to inspect the proposed site of the Patels’ petrol pump in Vansda on February 12, but did not turn up. That was the time the father and son duo realised that they were cheated of the whopping amount.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 07, 2021 03:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).