A35-year-old man in Pune, who works as a director of an engineering company, was cheated of Rs 1 crore by online fraudsters on the pretext of offering him the franchise of a multinational pizza restaurant chain ahead of the upcoming 50-over men’s cricket World Cup and also one at the Pune airport.
Pune Man Loses Rs 1 Crore In Recent Fraud
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A First Information Report (FIR) on the matter was registered at Bhosari MIDC police station under the Pimpri-Chinchwad police last Friday. The police probe suggested that between June 9 and July 7, the complainant was made to do over a dozen transactions to multiple bank accounts on various pretexts related to opening the franchise outlets of the pizza restaurant chain in Mumbai and Pune during the World Cup and also one at the Pune International Airport. The men’s cricket world cup begins on October 5 this year in India.
According to the FIR, the complainant who runs an engineering components manufacturing company was recently looking for avenues to invest in the food and hospitality sector when he came across platforms offering franchises of the pizza joint chain. He filled up an online form in the first week of June and on June 9, he got a call from a man posing as an executive of the franchisor, as reported by Indian Express.
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On June 21, he received a letter of intent, a document listing the terms and conditions of the contract. He was made to transfer Rs 2.65 lakh to a bank account as an initial processing fee. He was subsequently asked to pay around Rs 6 lakh as charges of a no-objection certificate (NOC) and Rs 7.5 lakh for initial payment towards purchasing machinery for the outlet. The complainant made these payments in four instalments and was told the outlet would be at the Pune airport.
In the following days, the complainant was reportedly approached by cyber fraudsters posing as other executives of the franchisor and was asked to make more transfers of Rs 2.6 lakh and two payments of around Rs 12 lakh each towards completion of contract formalities and Rs 20 lakh for the interior decoration of the pizza franchise outlet at the Pune international airport.
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Offered To Open Pizza Franchises For Upcoming World Cup
The complainant received more calls from people posing as senior executives giving him a proposal of opening franchises at Pune and Mumbai during the upcoming cricket world cup for the franchise fees of Rs 82 lakh. The callers asked him to make payments of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 33 lakh for these franchises, which he made, bringing the total amount of payments to over Rs 1 crore in less than a month.
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An officer from Bhosari MIDC police station said while making the payment of Rs 33 lakh, he realised he had been making payments to the personal accounts of some people and not to any registered entity. After making further inquiries, he realised that he had been cheated and approached the Pimpri-Chinchwad police with a complaint. The officer added that a probe had been launched into the cell phone numbers, email addresses and bank accounts used by the cyber fraudsters.
