Cyber crimes or online frauds are a serious concern as Ministry of Home Affairs released a report last month as per which Indian citizens lost Rs. 7488.6 crore because of online scams in the year 2023. The matter of concern is that online scams are taking place on such a big level despite government, banks and other institutions running campaigns in order to educate people about these scams.
Recently a Gujarati businessman named Parag Desai lost Rs. 95 lakh in an online scam. He told the Cyber Crime Police Station that in October last year, he got a friend request on Facebook from a woman named Steff Mihz. Parag said that he accepted the friend request and then they started chatting on WhatsApp.
According to the reports, Parag Desai’s online friend Steff suggested him to purchase herbal products for Rs. 1 lakh and then sell it to her firm for Rs. 2 lakh. After Desai agreed, Steff gave him the contact details of a person named Dr. Virendra in order to get the items.
Parag Desai and Dr. Virendra got in touch through email, Parag made the payment of Rs. 1 lakh and as per the discussion, Dr. Virendra sent him the sample packet on schedule. Parag Desai didn’t open the packet but made some more orders and kept transferring money in different accounts of Dr. Virendra as per his instructions but when Dr. Virendra tried to convince Parag to make more payment on irrelevant grounds, Parag became a little suspicious.
When Parag was not able to get the amount that he was promised, he asked Dr. Virendra to cancel the agreement and return his money but since then, both Dr. Virendra and Desai’s online friend Steff are missing and he is not able to contact them. When Parag Desai opened up the package, there were no herbal items and instead chips and powder were packed inside.
The cyber police is looking into the matter and we request our readers to be beware of such online frauds.