Gurugram, October 7: An incident of online fraud has been reported from Gurugram where a man was duped of Rs 71 lakh by a fraudster who posed as a director of a Japanese firm. Reports inform that the fraudster cheated the man on the pretext of paying him a commission for acting as a middleman to purchase raw materials from a Sikkim-based firm. According to a report by Hindustan Times, soon after the incident was reported, Police swung into action and registered a case under Section 66D of the IT Act and Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code at the cyber police station on Tuesday.

The report quoted a police official saying that the matter appears to be of impersonation. He said the online fraudsters have been taking this approach to dupe people as similar types of frauds, for selling products from Sikkim, are increasing. Gurugram Shocker: 24-Year-Old Woman Kidnapped, Gang-Raped on Pretext of Lift by Car Driver, Accused on the Run.

The victim named Pradip Kumar Saha, said in his complaint that he received an email from a person who claimed to be a Japanese national. The fraudster said he was the director of a company and was seeking to purchase zirconite (a mineral) from India. After the resident responded to the email, he was given the contact number of a supplier in Sikkim and asked to contact the sales manager.

The victim said the fraud took place over two months. He added that he was promised a commission on the total purchase value for representing them as their India operations and coordination. The man accepted the proposal and then was asked to arrange some samples, for which he transferred Rs 10 lakh to the bank account shared by the supplier. He made series of similar payments for a number of reasons, amounting to a total of Rs 71 lakh in total.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 07, 2021 06:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).