Pune: As lakhs of people get hooked to online dating websites or application, their spread has led to online romance cons becoming a modern type of fraud that have spread in many metro cities of the country.

A 68-year-old retired government employee from Nana Peth lost Rs 3.75 lakh after duped to a text message consisting of a website link that assured ‘friendship’ for lonely men. According to the police, the complainant clicked on a website link in a text message he received on his phone which said that the website delivers ‘companionship’ for lonely men.

The police said, “Website representatives asked the complainant to pay amount in pretext of fees and later started extorting money from him. Though the victim lodged the complaint on Saturday, the incidents took place between July and August. He was hesitant to open up about this problem with his family.”

Pune Cyber Police Inspector Jayram Paygude, said, “The man clicked the link he received and soon he received a phone call from a woman who informed how the ‘system’ works. She later asked to deposit amount as fees. Falling prey to the call, the victim transferred the money into the given bank account.”

“After this, he received calls from four to five women who requested him to pay them fees which he did on the assurance of the women meeting him but no one did”, informed Paygude.

Earlier this month, when the man demanded his fees back, the suspects threatened him saying they would expose the entire scenario and will visit his house. The fraudsters also extorted a sum of Rs 2 lakh from him to keep this matter under the secrecy.

With rising cases of online fraud, Jayram Paygude appealed people not to fall for any text message or any ‘friendship’ website links.

Recently, Pune Police on their Twitter handle appealed Punekars to stay alert for new phishing scam. Pune Police on Twitter wrote, “In an attempt to dupe citizens, a phishing racket has been using fraudulent pop up ads. If you come across any such message, do not panic or share your bank details. Press ‘Esc’ and close the browser window.”