In a horrifying case of cyber crime in Bengaluru,?a 25-year-old techie lost Rs 1.6 lakh?to cyber criminals during his hunt for a new house in the city amid?skyrocketing rents?of residential properties in?Bengaluru.?
Cybercriminals are reportedly posting details of non-existent flats with attractive photographs and offers to cheat home-seekers.?A techie planning to move to the city fell into the fraudsters’ trap earlier this week, allegedly losing over Rs 1.6 lakh.
The techie from Kolkata had recently secured a lucrative job offer with a top IT firm in Kadubeesanahalli and was all set to start work on June 1st.
"My girlfriend and I planned to move to Bengaluru, and I was looking online for rented houses. I spotted an attractive offer on real estate portal NoBroker about a flat in Marathahalli. The monthly rent was Rs. 25,000, and two months’ rent had to be paid in advance. I called the contact number provided, and the owner identified himself as an Indian Army officer posted in Mumbai," recalled the techie, as per the TOI report.
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The software engineer, desperate to get a flat on rent for easy access to work, found the Marathahalli house perfect.?
“The Army officer connected me to someone who he claimed was the manager of his Bengaluru flat and the duo asked me to make a deposit of Rs 4,000 to seal the deal, which I did through GooglePay. They told me it was a (government) granted property and I needed to secure a paid visiting pass to come and see it; they said the sum was refundable. . . I believed them as I trusted the portal, which seemed to be reputed,” said the 25-year-old, who was lured into paying an additional Rs 1.6 lakh in eight installments via online transactions.
The real estate portal has since pulled down the advertisement for the Marathahalli flat but reportedly said the?customer was at fault?as he paid the ‘owner’ multiple times without meeting him or visiting the property. Calls made to the contact numbers provided by the fraudsters went unanswered.
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