Beltangady: SMS 'Loot'tery - Youth Royally Conned, Loses Rs 3.85 Lac
Daijiworld Media Network – Beltangady (VA)
Beltangady, Sep 4: Despite constant warnings from the media, a youth here has fallen prey to ‘SMS Scam’ by blindly believing that his mobile phone had won a bumper prize of 50 lac and in turn lost Rs 3.85 lac of his own.
Just like the messages which most of us have already received stating – ‘Congratulations. Your mobile number has won 5 Lac dollars' asking to forward names, addresses, and photographs to an email id specified in the SMS, Nagesh Hegde (20) too received the same. Easily impressed and in fact fooled by the message Nagesh responded immediately hoping to get the huge amount of cash.
Nagesh had got a reply for his SMS that as per the rules of Indian Government he needs to pay the tax to avail his gift money. The SMS was in Coco Cola Company’s name. When Nagesh called the number provided in the SMS a fellow named John Smith answered his call and as per his instructions Nagesh went to State Bank, Beltangady branch and deposited Rs 3.85 lac to an account.
Last time when Nagesh had called up the same number to ask when he will get his cash prize, he was told that he needs to pay another 1 lac to get the amount. Already he had taken a loan with his own home’s guarantee and also had borrowed money from several people.
Being a painter it was hard for him to gather another 1 lac. When he spoke about the offer to his friends he was shocked to learn that he had been conned by the fraudsters and whatever messages he had got were all fake. Helpless Nagesh finally filed a complaint at Beltangady police station.
Thousands of people, who had followed the lead provided by such messages, have lost money and mental peace in the bargain. People should never give in to the lure offered by such messages, although the names of the senders may appear to be reputed companies like ICC Cricket, Cocacola, Pespi and so on.