Who doesn’t love a good pizza, especially during the World Cup? Now, imagine owning a pizza franchise during the World Cup. Well, for this Pune man, the imagination became a nightmare before it could become a reality. Losing over lakhs of money, this Pune man got the worst “slice” of this whole ordeal when he got scammed.
Pune Man Swindled Out Of ₹1 Crore By Scammers
A 35-year-old director of an engineering company from Pune, fell victim to online fraudsters who swindled him out of ₹1 crore. The fraudsters deceived him by falsely promising to grant him the franchise of a renowned multinational pizza restaurant chain.
They used the upcoming 50-over men’s cricket World Cup and the Pune airport as part of their scheme. After an FIR was registered at the Bhosari MIDC police station in the Chinchwad-Pimpri police district.
Post the police investigation, it was suggested that the victim was asked to make over a dozen transactions between June 9 and July 7. The transactions were made to multiple bank accounts on various false assurances related to opening the franchise outlets.
The complainant was offered the chance to own pizza franchise outlets in Mumbai and Pune during World Cup. He was also promised another outlet at the Pune International Airport. As per the FIR, the complainant was looking for new investment opportunities in the hospitality and food sector.
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That was when he came across platforms offering pizza joint chain franchises. After filling up an online form in June, a call was made to the victim by a man posing as an executive of the franchisor.
He was later requested to make a payment of approximately ₹6 lakhs for a no-objection certificate (NOC) and ₹7.5 lakh as an initial payment for purchasing machinery for the outlet.
The complainant made these payments in four instalments and was informed that the outlet would be located at Pune airport.
Loses ₹1 Crore To Pizza Franchise Scammers
In the following days, the complainant received approaches from cyber fraudsters who pretended to be other executives of the franchisor. They asked him to make additional transfers of ₹2.6 lakhs and two payments of approximately ₹12 lakhs each to complete the contract formalities.
Additionally, they asked for ₹20 lakhs for the interior decoration of the franchise outlet at the Pune international airport.
Pune police said they have received multiple such cases in the previous years of people getting scammed over huge and small amounts. Both, are equally tragic. The victim only realized he had been fooled when he made a payment of ₹30 lakhs to a private bank account.
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He was towards the end swindled for up to ₹1 crore. Cases of people getting scammed might not be new, but they always have a surprising element.
Cover Image Courtesy: Canva