n After falling prey to a cyber fraud, a man on Monday attempted self-immolation in front the Khordha Collector’s office by pouring kerosene on him seeking justice.
However, police personnel present at the spot rescued the man, identified as Brajabandhu Sahu of Talkoi village, after overpowering him. He was later taken to hospital for a checkup.During questioning, Sahu revealed that he was cheated of Rs 16.32 lakh by a fake company in August last year. A foreign website, Trade United Ltd, made a deal with him to supply wood to his saw mill. He provided his bank details to the website. The company later withdrew Rs 16.32 lakh from his bank account.
The victim further alleged that though he brought the matter to the notice of the Khordha Collector 15 days ago, the latter did not take any action in this regard, forcing him to attempt suicide.
In another such case, IPS officer Sarah Sharma, now posted at the Vigilance Directorate in Cuttack, became a new target of the cyber fraudsters as a fake account has been opened in her name to dupe many in the State.After the matter came to her notice, Sharma updated it on her Facebook account urging social media users not to pay money asked by fraudsters using her name.
The fraudsters have created a fake account to seek monetary favours from people, who are in Sharma’s friend list on Facebook, on various grounds posing as the IPS officer. Even, many of them have reportedly paid money to the fraudsters after receiving request from Sharma’s fake Facebook account.
Earlier, many IPS officers, including Pranabindu Acharya, Sudhansu Sarangi and Anup Kumar Sahoo, had been targeted by cyber fraudsters in the State. The fraudsters had duped many people by opening fake accounts of these police officers on Facebook.