Mangaluru: A 22-year-old man allegedly lost Rs 2,37,498 after falling prey to an online fraud involving a fake escort service advertisement on Instagram.According to the complaint, the man was browsing Instagram around 11 pm on Oct 6 when he came across an advertisement. Clicking on it redirected him to a Telegram chat, where he enquired about the service.An unidentified person later contacted him through a WhatsApp call from a mobile number and asked him to make an online payment to book the service. On Oct 7, the complainant transferred Rs 3,000 through Google Pay using a QR code sent by the person.The caller subsequently asked him to pay a security deposit of Rs 31,000, which he also transferred. The accused then demanded additional payments towards service confirmation, police verification and waiting charges, assuring him that the entire amount would be refunded.Trusting the assurance, the complainant transferred Rs 1,57,498 through UPI transactions from his bank accounts between Oct 7 and 8. He also transferred Rs 80,000 in phases through a net banking account to an Airtel payments bank account specified by the caller.The complainant alleged that the unidentified persons cheated him of a total of Rs 2.4 lakh in the name of the escort service. A case has been registered at the CEN crime police station.
