Man loses ₹3.81 lakh in Kerala lottery prize scam

Mangaluru: A 42-year-old man was allegedly duped of ₹3.81 lakh after cyber fraudsters convinced him that he had won a Kerala lottery prize of ₹8 lakh and collected money from him on the pretext of taxes, Mangaluru city police said.

According to the police, the victim received a call from an unidentified person on August 14, claiming that an ₹8 lakh Kerala lottery prize had been registered in his name. The caller allegedly told him that he had to pay taxes to receive the prize money.

Believing the claim to be genuine, the victim transferred money in several instalments between August 15 and 26. The fraudsters allegedly sent Google Pay and PhonePe QR codes through WhatsApp and instructed him to scan them and make the payments.

The victim transferred a total of ₹3,81,300 to the accounts linked to the QR codes.

The fraudsters later contacted him again from another mobile number and claimed that the lottery prize amount had doubled. They then demanded additional money towards taxes, further raising the victim’s suspicion.

Realising that he had been caught in a cyber fraud, the victim immediately contacted the cybercrime helpline 1930 and reported the incident.

As the money was not returned, the victim later approached the CEN Crime Police Station and submitted a written complaint seeking action against the unidentified fraudsters.

The CEN police have registered a case and launched an investigation to trace those involved in the alleged fraud and recover the money.