Mangaluru: Four separate incidents of cyber fraud have been reported at the Mangaluru CEN crime police station, with victims collectively losing over Rs 9.5 lakh to fake traffic violation notices, fraudulent investment apps, and unauthorised card transactions.In the first incident, a 52-year-old man lost Rs 3,00,353 on Sept 20, after falling prey to a fake e-challan scam. The victim received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number. The message claimed to be a ‘traffic violation notice,’ displaying his four-wheeler’s registration number, and demanding a fine of Rs 1,000. When the victim clicked the link provided in the message, a fraudulent app was downloaded to his phone. Shortly after, the fraudsters siphoned money from his savings account in multiple phases.In a separate investment scam, a 58-year-old victim was duped of Rs 2,03,261. The fraud began on June 27, when an unknown caller identifying as ‘BOODEVI’ contacted the victim, promising lucrative daily returns through an investment app called ‘FBT’. The caller convinced the victim that many others were already profiting, and sent a registration link to download the apk file. The scammers initially credited a free bonus of Rs 55 to gain trust. Subsequently, between July 9 and Aug 31, the victim invested a total of Rs 2,03,261 into various recharge tiers before realising it was a scam.Two additional cases involved unauthorised online transactions where victims lost money without sharing OTPs or card details. On Sept 19 a 47-year-old person lost Rs 2,44,691 after unknown fraudsters executed unauthorised online transactions using the victim’s debit card.On the same day, a 45-year-old victim reported losing Rs 1,98,500 from his credit card. The victim received multiple messages indicating that the money had been deducted in stages through platforms.Official complaints for all four incidents have been registered at the Mangaluru CEN crime police station, and investigations are currently under way to trace the suspects.
