A couple lost Rs 1.3 crore to the notorious Nigerian online lottery scam after the man - a retired agriculture scientist with GKVK, University of Agricultural Sciences fell prey to an online quiz in 2014.
He sent large sums of money to claim the alleged Rs 5-crore prize till his demise in December 2014, and his wife continued to do so till mid-2017.
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The 52-year-old from Allalasandra approached the cybercrime police station in the city police commissionerate last week. In her complaint, she said her husband had participated in the online quiz in January 2014.
The next day, he received a call from a man claiming to be from Shell Oil company in the UK which had floated the lottery.
Ignorant about such scams, the man interacted on phone with the fraudster, who said he would bring the Rs 5-crore prize money personally to Bengaluru via Delhi and asked him to transfer money as fees towards customs procedure, RBI sanction and other fraudulent heads.
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According to police sources, he transferred large sums of money to various bank accounts through online transactions as advised by scamsters on numerous occasions till his demise in December 2014.
It is believed he drew from his savings, apart from taking loans on his LIC policies and pledging property to claim the lottery money.
She said her family had lost Rs 1,30,04,000 to the scam. "I have lodged a complaint with Bengaluru police," she said, hoping police would help her get back the money and apprehend the culprits.
The scamster contacted the scientist's cellphone after his death and Rohini answered the call only to be informed her husband had won the lottery and she could claim the cash on his behalf.
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Falling for it, the wife, too, made numerous money transfers until May 2017 when the suspect, who identified himself as Howard Jerry from Delhi, assured her the money would be dropped at her home in Allalasandra after a final transfer of Rs 6.5 lakh to an account towards an affidavit from the Supreme Court for the lottery claim.