Man loses Rs 9.7 lakh in online lottery fraud

Bangalore: Receives SMS informing that he had won a new car and a large amount of money, which he could claim after depositing a certain amount of money

A retired employee of a private firm was duped of Rs 9.7 lakh in an online lottery scam allegedly by a reputed lottery firm in the UK. B R Patel, a resident of Dollars layout in J P Nagar received an SMS saying he had won a brand new BMW car and a cash prize of Rs 3.63 crore ( £5 lakh).



Patel contacted the scammers via email and phone following the SMS. Two UK nationals asked him to contact one Arun Kumar, an Indian national, who convinced Patel to deposit Rs 9.7 lakh in various accounts to claim his prize, to which Patel agreed.

After failing to receive any conformation regarding his winnings, Patel filed a case of cheating with the J P Nagar police. In his complaint, Patel named Elder David and Collins of Bilton Road, Perivale, Greenford, London and Arun Kumar.

Police Inspector S K Umesh of J P Nagar police station said, "The cheats may have used fake identities and overseas SIM cards in the scam to cheat Patel. We have filed a case of online fraud and are investigating."