(Image source from: economictimes.indiatimes.com)
Three people have been cheated of Rs3.2 lakh after they have received and email invitation to a wedding anniversary party by Vinodkumar Punshi who is a resident of Nerul.
The three people who have been cheated also includes a man from England and it is said that the three of them have received an email from Vinodkumar Punshi of 78 years old and a resident of Nerul who has invited them to his wedding anniversary party.
The three victims were unaware that the account of Vinodkumar Punshi has been hacked.
It has been said that Punshi runs an NGO in Navi Mumbai and that his son Sidharth has received an email from Punshi while the family was celebrating the New Year’s eve recently at a Lonavla resort. The mail that was received by Sidharth was from Punshi’s old hotmail ID which he Punshi has stopped using from the year 2016 when it was hacked.
The email that was received by Sidharth opened with a greeting from Istanbul, Turkey which has described with the names of the family members of Punshi and it has also aid that the family was on a European tour on a cruise boat.
The Nerul apartment’s address of Punshi has been mentioned in the mail and has sent an invitation to join the family on the 22nd of February for his wedding ‘golden jubilee’.
As said by the police, Punshi had immediately made an effort and had informed his family and friends by sending a text mentioning that his account has been hacked and has warned them not to respond to the email.
Punshi had then asked the owner of the resort Ashok Jatia who was also his dear friend whether he had received any email of that sort or not for which Ashok Jatia had responded saying that he did not receive any but the mail has been received by his son Vaibhav and before the men could caution him, he had already responded to the email.
An officer from the NRI police station has said that, the hacker has sent a message posing as Punshi to Vaibhav and has asked him Rs 1.2 lakh saying that he was in need of it as he had to give it to a builder and Vaibhav was innocent and had transferred the amount to the account number that has been mentioned in the message.
Naren Nanda who is an England- based friend of Punshi had similarly lost Rs 1 lakh and also CS Jacob who is another friend of Punshi has also lost Rs 1 lakh as they have been gullible and transferred the amount which they have been asked, to the account number that was mentioned in the message which was sent by the hacker who was posing as Punshi.
This case is being probed by the cybercrime cell while the police suspect that the accused might have made use of the information that was available in the email account of Punshi and has sent mails to his acquaintances.
Pushi has made a complaint regarding the matter to the police and the case has been registered under the sections of Information Technology Act along with cheating.
By Shrithika Kushangi
