CHENNAI: A 25-year-old student at IIT-Madras allegedly lost Rs 50,000 to a conman who befriended her through social media.
Police sources said that the conman had sent a voice message through Whatsapp alleging that her friend in Uttarakhand was in a medical emergency and requested the IIT- student to transfer Rs 50,000 to him.
The student, Shradda Sharma, a native of Uttarkhand transferred the money and later when she tried to reach the number, it was switched off.
When she reached her friend through other means, she found that the number which contacted her was non existent after which she realised that she was conned. Based on her complaint, Kotturpuram police have registered a case and are investigating.
Few months ago, in a similar incident, a humanities student in IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) -Madras allegedly lost Rs 1.09 lakh to a conman posing as an Indian Army officer. The student had posted an advertisement to sell an item through OLX, an online classifieds portal.
A person claiming that he is an army personnel contacted the student and took her bank account details after which the student lost Rs 1,09,500 through UPI transfer from her SBI bank account in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
Police sources said that the conman sent a phishing link to the student's mobile through which money was swindled from her account.