07 July,2009 09:04 AM IST | | A correspondent
Online fraudsters arrested after suspicious victim tips police
Ganesh Tukaram Shivle, 27-year-old software professional from Hadapsar, was duped to the tune of Rs 2,83,000 when he naively believed an e-mail, which stated that he had been selected as the lucky winner of $ 1.5 million lottery draw.
PSI S S Shelke of the Hadapsar Police Station where Shivle registered his complaint said, "Shivle received an email from UK lottery board announcing that he has been selected as lucky winner. Subsequent mails stated that he had to pay Rs 2,83,000 as commission to a man named Clinton to claim the prize money. Shivle paid up, and subsequently a person claiming to be Clinton visited Shivle at his residence on July 1 with a red bag and said it contained the prize money."
Clinton then informed Shivle that all the notes were covered with a coat of a black substance. A special chemical was required to remove it. He applied the chemical on three of the notes and revealed dollar notes.
Shivle was assured that he would bring some more solution to clean the remaining notes the next day. But he never turned up. "Instead, he called Shivle and asked him to pay an additional Rs 1 lakh so he could buy the chemicals. That is when Shivle suspected something was wrong. He checked the red bag and found that it only contained polythene bags," said Shelke. Shivle's complaint named Raymond Blair, Clinton and Moore and was registered under IPC Section 420 (cheating) and Section 34. When MiD-DAY contacted Shivle, he refused to comment.
