Panaji: A Pomburpa resident was cheated of Rs 3 lakh by an online fraudster. The cybercrime police station has registered a Zero FIR in the case.Lawrence Pereira, 47, lodged a complaint stating that between Aug 29 and Sep 2, an unidentified person contacted him and gave him “instruction to appear for inquiry”.The accused allegedly threatened Pereira with action and subsequently carried out transactions, withdrawing Rs 3 lakh from his bank account.Police said Zero FIRs are registered at the cybercrime police station for frauds involving amounts above Rs 1 lakh, irrespective of where the offence occurred, to facilitate faster recovery of the defrauded money.Police advised victims to report fraud during the “golden period” of six to seven hours after the incident, when the chances of recovering the stolen funds are significantly higher.Police said a common pattern reported by cyber fraud victims is that criminals use threats, including threats of arrest, to make victims click on links or download documents, eventually facilitating transfers of money to accounts controlled by the fraudsters.
