Mumbai man pays Rs 72,000 to get VVIP mobile numbers for his boss, duped
After he made the payment in December last year, he received an invoice which he believed was genuine since it had the telecom firm’s logo on it
A 38-year-old man, who is a senior executive with a private hospital in Bandra, was duped of Rs 72,000 by an unidentified fraudster two months ago after he tried to buy special ‘VVIP’ mobile phone numbers for his boss.
The Bandra police registered his complaint last week and filed a first information report (FIR) under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology Act.
According to the complainant’s statement, his company’s president received an SMS in November last year from a number that seemed to belong to a well-known private telecom service provider. The message said “very very important person (VVIP) numbers” were being provided to select customers at a good discount.
The president forwarded this SMS to his vice-president, the complainant in the case, asking him to buy the numbers.
When the complainant contacted the telemarketing number, a fake telecom executive attended it and asked him to transfer Rs 72,000 to a bank account. After he made the payment in December last year, he received an invoice which he believed was genuine since it had the telecom firm’s logo on it.
Several days went by without any notification and the complainant decided to visit one of the telecom firm’s service outlets in the city to find his order’s status. He was informed the telecom service provider had sent no such SMS and the number did not belong to them. Realising he had been duped, he lodged a complaint with the Bandra police.