Rajkot handicraft trader loses 3L to online fraudster

Rajkot: An online handicraft trader from Rajkot lost Rs 3 lakh to cyber fraudsters who had approached him through instant messaging mobile applications.
According to a police complaint filed by the victim Hiren Viroja, he was into online sale of handicrafts for the past three years.
On April 11, Viroja received a message on WhatsApp and Telegram messaging apps from a UK-based mobile number.The sender identified himself as Eric Felix, who works for a pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom.
Felix told Viroja that his company needed ‘butia liquid extract’, one kind of seed extract. He also gave references of two firms in Assam that manufacture the liquid extract. To gain Viroja’s trust the messenger also sent details of his company along with the website address. Viroja checked the website and other details and believed it to be genuine.
Later Viroja contacted the firm making butia extract in Assam and got a quotation. The Assam firm quoted US$4,000 (about Rs 3 lakh) per litre of butia liquid extract. Viroja then contacted the UK pharmaceutical company and quoted US$8,500 per litre to which the company agreed. The UK firm asked Viroja to send one litre sample first. Viroja paid Rs 3 lakh to the Assam firm as advance for the sample. All these correspondences and transactions happened between April 12 and April 20.
However, when the Assam company did not send the sample and nobody from the UK firm followed up on the order, Viroja got suspicious and approached the cybercrime police station in Rajkot on Wednesday.