An engineering student in the city lost over Rs 5 lakh to an SMS fraud.
The police said M. Senthil Krishnan, 22, of Viswanathapuram received an SMS on his cellphone from a number originating from a foreign country announcing that he had won 7 lakh pounds, which works out to Rs 5 crore, in a lucky dip. The sender asked him to send his bank account numbers to receive the cash prize.
Falling prey to the message, Senthil responded by sending his bank account numbers.
A few minutes later, he received another text message from the same number asking him to pay Rs 5,10,391 without any delay in a given account number so that the amount could be paid as tax to the Indian government for the prize.
Enticed by the Rs 5 crore promise, Senthil deposited Rs 5.1 lakh in the accounts maintained by the fraudsters in three banks.
The police said the college-goer managed to mobilise the funds from people known to him to get a hefty sum. But all that he received was an SMS thanking him for depositing the amount they had asked for.
His hopes got dashed as he neither received the prize, even after a month, nor any further communication.
The police said he realised only after a month that he had been cheated. Senthil lodged a complaint with the Madurai city crime branch police who have registered a case and launched an investigation.
Commissioner of police M. Kannappan has cautioned cellphone users not to give in to such attractive messages sent by fraudsters.
Investigations have revealed that fraudsters had used the person’s ignorance and swindled money, he said, adding that it has come to light that similar text messages promising cars, bikes, houses and jewels were also doing the rounds. He asked people not to fall prey to such tricks.