A 42-year-old woman from Kathlal in Kheda filed a complaint with the police, alleging that she was defrauded of Rs.1 lakh by an online betting platform after her 14-year-old son engaged in a prediction game on her mobile device.

Times of India reported that Saroj Jain, a resident of Shukan Society, lodged an FIR stating that her son Sumit informed her on February 16 about an online game called Probo, which he has been playing. According to Sumit, he participated in the app’s activities and earned a reward of Rs.40, which was credited to Saroj’s account. Subsequently, on the night of February 26, Sumit once again engaged with the app, earning another Rs.40 as a reward.

On the morning of February 27, Saroj received an OTP on her phone, which Sumit shared with an unidentified caller pretending to be Probo. Later, upon inspecting her phone, Saroj discovered that Rs.1 lakh had been withdrawn from the bank account linked to her device. Realizing she had fallen victim to fraud, Saroj promptly reported the incident to the police.

The Kathlal police registered a complaint of cheating under the Indian Penal Code, with charges under the Information Technology Act. The FIR states that someone called the victim for OTP and the Probo app was an alibi.

This incident follows a notice issued on May 21, 2023, by Haryana’s excise and taxation department to the skill-based opinion trading firm based out of Gurugram M/s Probo Media Technologies Private Limited, demanding Rs.1,500 crore in taxes.

The notice accused the company of misclassifying its services and underpaying taxes. While the prescribed tax rate on chance winnings from betting or gambling is 28%, Probo allegedly paid only 18%, resulting in an evasion of Rs.1,500 crore in taxes.