In a very shocking and first case of its kind, a woman of 44 lost her life after falling prey to a phishing scam. Undoubtedly, it’s not the first time that a person has become a victim of some scam of this type but in all other cases so far, victims approached cyber crime officers or cops for taking an action against scamsters operating from secret locations.
But this time, a phishing scam cost a woman not only money but also her life. It so happened that she got a message which said that the woman had won a jackpot of Rs 45 lakh and she must disburse Rs 11 lakh for claiming the prize money. She did not inform her husband who is an IT professional or her two kids about it and kept on making transactions as asked by scamsters and even took a flight to Delhi for getting the amount. Subsequent to the realization of being conned, the woman came back to her home in Bengaluru and took her life by hanging.
The deceased has been identified as Palak V and she was lured by a scamster knows as Andrew who told her that she would get the prize money as a demand draft in her name. However, he also talked about being entrapped in legal problems and for the same, she would have to pay some amount if she wanted to claim the jackpot amount. She trusted him and did not feel the need of discussing the matter with her family members. The woman disbursed money in 4 different accounts of Shabbir, Hasnath, Rahul etc. The highest transaction was of Rs 2.5 lakh made by her from 6th June to 13th June.
According to the officer investing the matter,
“As she was regularly remitting the money, the accused knew that it was a successful trap and kept making her remit more and more money, citing different trivial reasons. In all, she remitted nearly Rs 11 lakh and also flew to Delhi to fetch the prize money on the conman’s instructions. When he demanded more money from her by calling her on her mobile at Delhi, Palak requested that the prize money be given to her as she had no money left with her. When she was denied the “prize money”, she realised she was conned and returned to Bengaluru.”
The official added,
“The day before she committed suicide, she also tried to consume insecticide but was saved by her children. When asked by her family members what made her take the drastic step, she is said to have described the fraud. However, her family members assured her not to worry and would report the matter to the police. The next day, when her family members were in the process of going to the police station, she committed suicide by hanging in the bedroom.”
Scamster’s account details have been obtained by cops while Palak’s husband denied to say anything with regard to the unfortunate incident.
The officer further said,
“The accused are booked for abetment of suicide under section 306 and cheating under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. Efforts are being made to look for the accused. Public should be careful of such scams. People who get messages or mails claiming they have won a jackpot or lottery should either ignore such messages or inform the local police.”
As stated by the official,
“In all likelihood, arresting the accused involved in such scams will be very difficult as they keep shifting their base and operate under different names. The bank account numbers which they open will be for a temporary period and after a successful fraud, they would not further use the account. When the police do go to the address based on documents provided to banks at the time of opening the account, the accused would have fled.”
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