3 days ago
BJP MLA loses Rs 1.27L to cyber fraudsters
Daltonganj: Panki BJP MLA Shashi Bhushan Mehta was duped of Rs 1.27 lakh in a fake GST auction scam. The incident took place when the legislator was in Mumbai for a parliamentary conference on June 26.
The fraudster, identifying himself as Ritesh Kumar from GST Customs, contacted Mehta with an offer of auctioned four-wheelers. "I got a call around 9 am from Kumar. As his phone number was saved in my cell phone, I picked up and responded to him," Mehta added.
The scammer claimed to be from GST Customs Malda and proposed a fleet of luxury vehicles available for auction at a base price of Rs 12,70,000. "He asked me to pay 10%of the base money to join the auction/bidding," he said.
Two payments were subsequently made through Mehta's personal assistant, Saroj Kumar Chatterjee – Rs 50,000 from an SBI account and Rs 77,000 via UPI. The fraud came to light when the perpetrators' phones were found switched off soon after.
Taking immediate action, Mehta filed a complaint on the cyber fraud helpline 1930 on June 27, followed by a formal police complaint at the Ranchi cybercrime police station on June 28. The case has been filed under relevant sections of the BNS and IT Act, with inspector S K Gorai leading the investigation.
Questions remain about how the fraudster's number was saved in the MLA's phone, potentially indicating sophisticated social engineering tactics. Mehta said, "I am confident this case will be cracked."
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