According to Mumbai police, an unidentified individual has been charged on Sunday with an offence after a Borivali man was reportedly defrauded of Rs 2.10 lakh in a lottery scam. An official reported that the MHB police recently filed an FIR in response to a complaint.

The complainant had bought an appliance from an online retailer in 2019. He received a letter from West Bengal, allegedly from the store, two years later, stating that he had been chosen for a lucky draw.

According to the official, after receiving a scratch card informing him that he had won a car for Rs. 10.4 lakh as the first prize the victim received a phone call from a man acting as a senior executive with the online company.

The victim said that the caller gave him the choice between picking up the automobile and having the money sent to his account; he picked the latter. The official stated that the culprit then requested the victim to transfer Rs 2.10 lakh as processing fees and other costs in order to obtain Rs 10.4 lakh.

The complainant said, as reported by Mid Day, that after depositing the money, the caller kept asking for more, and when he suspected something wasn’t right, he asked for a refund, which he did not get.

Scams such as these are pretty common ways to commit fraud as the victims are tempted to earn quick cash.

Late last year, some fake Kerala lottery ticket apps were spotted on Google Play Store posing as the Directorate of Kerala State’s lotteries namely, Kerala Lottery Online and India Kerala Lottery. The number of downloads for these fake apps had crossed 1 million.

The fake apps also had social media accounts with original Directorate of Kerala State Lotteries logos and were luring customers with incentives for inviting other people.