Chennai: A man in Erode, Tamil Nadu, received a no-objection certificate from the Kaun Banega Crorepati team with Amitabh Bachchan’s photo in 2022. Following that, he was asked to deposit Rs 32,000 as disbursal charges to claim Rs 25 lakh won in a lottery. Then he received a letter from the Prime Minister’s House (not office) demanding Rs 32,000 to obtain the President’s signature to deposit Rs 25 lakh to a bank account.
Then he received a letter from the GST office asking for Rs 7,100, while another one from the I-T department with a Rs 32,000 demand. The 49-year-old man also got a letter from police with retired IPS officer Vijayakumar's photo. Apart from these, a couple of letters from SBI, with a passbook showing Rs 1.25 crore deposited, was sent to the victim, Murugesan. He said a female 'CBI officer' conned him of another Rs 30,000.
After obtaining all these fake documents, and depositing his savings to the scammers, Murugesan realised that he had been scammed of Rs 2.9 lakh. He filed a complaint to the PMO that the accused used the image of the Prime Minister, and a fake CBI ID Card, said a report by Times of India.
How Fraudsters Executed Scam
According to an FIR, Murugesan had received a social media message that he had won Rs 25 lakh in a lottery of KBC, Mumbai, and another from KBC, Kolkata, of Rs 75 lakh. Later, the amount inflated to Rs 5.6 crore and Rs 2.75 crore, including taxes.
The woman claiming to be a CBI officer called herself Nandini Sharma, and promised Murugesan to get his prize money. Nandini also sent him a picture of an SUV, telling the victim that he had won the car. She collected ‘traffic police tax’ on that note from Murugesan.
Though the incident took place in 2022, the CBI Economic Offences Wing in New Delhi has filed a case now after the victim notified the matter to the PMO.