Mangaluru: There is an age-old saying that as long as there are willing horses, there are any number of waiting riders.
Many cases of people falling for fake messages of lottery prizes and losing their hard-earned money have been reported in the district in the recent past. What is shocking is the fact that they include the educated class.This has been happening in spite of media reports and cautions.
What is not taken into account is that to win any lottery, one needs to buy a ticket in the first place. This basic logic is forgotten when the lure of big bucks overtakes commonsense.
In the latest case, a 25-year-old software engineer hailing from Puttur taluk has lost Rs 20 lakh in claiming a prize amount of Rs 1 crore. He received an SMS informing him that he had won Rs 1 crore in the Punjab state lottery. He received more messages demanding money from him, to cover taxes.
He borrowed money from different sources and has so far remitted Rs 20 lakh. Curiously enough, he has not filed any complaint so far in the hope of getting his prize of a crore. Instead, he met district’s supeintendent of police Dr Sharanappa and sought advice on remitting more money in pursuit of the prize.
This was revealed by none other than the SP himself, who has cautioned the public against fake lottery prize offers. The name of the victim has not been disclosed since he has not filed any complaint so far.
The SP has also advised the public not to entertain calls seeking passwords, ATM card details. He has plans to create awareness in schools and colleges.
More and more victims!
- Mangaluru: Lured by Fake Crore-rupee Prize Offer, Woman Loses Rs 65,000
- Udupi: No Lessons Learnt from Others’ Mistakes – Rs 3.50 Lakh Lost in Online Prize Offer
- Bantwal: Auto Driver Taken for a Ride with offer of Safari Car, Loses Hard-earned Rs 22,250
- Mangalore: Anegundi Resident Loses Rs 2.40 Lakh in Bogus Prize Trap
- Kinnigoli: Moorukaveri Woman Duped of Rs 3.07 Lakh in SMS Prize Trap
- Mangalore: Man Loses Hard-earned Money in ‘Tailor-made’ SMSLottery Scam
- Udupi: Quick Cash Craze – E-mail Scam Leaves Gundibail Resident Poorer by Rs 8 Lakh!
- Mangalore: PG Aspirant Falls Prey to SMS Prize Trap – Rs 16.42 Lakh Lost
25-year-old software engineer: cannot imagine how educated fellows fall into this trap. Is he involved in this scam? If he is not than I would consider him as a buffoon.
Comments from Mr. Vas – “cannot imagine how educated fellows fall into this trap”.
Mr. Vas – the engineering job title of ‘software engineer’ is a grossly abused job title in India. Anyone and everyone who can write a piece of computer program is given the fancy title ‘software engineer’ – In western countries, if one has to have ‘engineer’ job tittle, they are generally required to have an engineering degree. Needless to say why this guy fell a prey to this scheme!