Kinnigoli: In Pursuit of 25-lakh Fake Lottery Prize, Kallamundkur Man Loses Rs 4.75 Lakh

Kinnigoli: In spite of frequent repetition of such instances and constant media cautions, many persons continue to fall prey to conmen’s tricks.

Those who fall for offers of fake lottery prizes seem to forget the basic principle that for any lottery prize, buying of a lotter ticket is a must. When no ticket was bought in the first place, how one could win prizes is not thought about.

What is alarming is the rise in the number of educated persons becoming victims. In the latest case reported, Prakash R Shetty of Kallamundkur near here received a call a few days ago from a person introducing himself as Sandeep Patil who spoke in Hindi. The caller said that Shetty had won a lottery prize of Rs 25 lakhs and to get the amount released he had to pay taxes.

As directed by him, Shetty went on crediting amounts to the accounts in different and distant banks as mentioned by him, from his account held in a nationalized bank in Kinnigoli.

The last transfer he made was on Dec 2. When there was no sign of prize money coming, he got suspicious. On totalling the amounts he remitted, he was shocked to realize that he had already lost Rs 4.75 lakh to the conman. He immediately complained to the police. Even after complaining to the police, Shetty received two calls from the same man asking for more amounts to be sent.

All amounts have been reportedly credited to specific accounts held in different banks in Jharkhand, which is a vital lead to cracking the crime. The inability of the local police to communicate in Hindi is hampering the follow-up, it is said. If the matter is pursued with a single-minded determination, it is not a difficult task to track down the conmen, according to many citizens.

Victims of quick-cash craze!