Ponda: At least ten interstate cyber fraudsters have cheated two Ponda natives for a collective amount of Rs 4.9 lakh. Both have been allegedly duped in the first week of Feb.They approached the police cyber cell, who transferred the cases to the Ponda police after registering their FIRs.In the first case, Anil Kumar Singh, who operates a transport company in Santacruz, Ponda, was allegedly cheated of Rs 2.8 lakh on the pretext of providing trucks to transport consignments from Mangaluru to Chhattisgarh.Singh wanted trucks to deliver his consignments. Knowing this, about eight fraudsters posing as truck drivers called him and agreed to deliver the goods and asked for an advance payment. He said he paid through UPI to their mobile numbers, but no one reached out to receive the consignments.In another case, Darsh Shinkre, a resident of Shantinagar, Ponda, was duped by some fraudsters who promised him a better job in a financial institution in Goa.The fraudster, who identified as a recruiter named Priyanka Sharma, allegedly contacted Shinkre over the phone and offered him a better job in a finance company in Goa. After Shinkre expressed interest in the job, she and others asked him to pay various fees, including form, registration, and interview charges. He paid Rs 2.1 lakh to them through UPI.The Ponda police have registered both cases separately under section 319(2) of BNS, 2023, against unidentified persons. Ponda PSI Bansal Naik is investigating both cases.
