Udupi, August.18: It is learnt that, a woman resident of Adarshanagara on Alevoor Road, Badagabettu in the city had suffered a heavy loss, after being lured by the present of making money through lucky draw. This bait had been laid out to her through cell phone calls.
Geetha (47), wife of Chandrashekhar from Adarshanagara, urged to make the best of this offer and strike it rich, got upset after the demand for payment of ‘taxes’ continued and never seemed to end. Later, she filed a complaint in Manipal Police Station.
It gathered that she received a call from mobile phone No. 92316358229 on August 4th. A stranger informed her that her mobile phone number has won US$ 25,000 in a lucky draw and sought payment of tax due towards this prize money to the government. It is said that the caller had conversed in Hindi.
On successive calls for payment, Geetha transferred a total sum of Rs 3,50,000 in 15 instalments to different account numbers from her account through State Bank of India. Geetha lost her patience and decided to approach the police on the latest demand for further payment of Rs 50,000.Our uncontrolled desires pave way for such incidents.Even though the media and the cops are creating a sense of awareness, the citizens fail to “Beware of strangers“.
