It was sometime in February 2022 that 16-year-old Ragini* came across an advertisement. The advertisement accompanied by a picture of a young doctor and a phone number said that a Dr Praveen Raj was ready to purchase a kidney for Rs 7 crore. Ragini, a student in Hyderabad, who hails from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, was desperate for money, as she had to replenish Rs 2 lakh that she had spent from her father’s account. The ad became a trap, and Ragini ended up losing Rs 16 lakh.
According to the police, the student had spent around Rs 2 lakh from her father’s account for shopping. Later, when she became worried that he would find out, she confided in her friends who joked about selling her kidney to raise the money. “The student then decided to find a way to sell her kidney. She searched online and came across an advertisement, which mentioned that a donor was needed for a kidney transplant. The contact details of a person called Dr Praveen Raj was provided in the advertisement. The advertisement promised Rs 7 crore for a kidney,” explained Venkata Krishna, Cyber Cell SI and head of the Technical and Analysis Wing of Guntur police.
The student began conversing with the man who claimed to be Dr Praveen Raj in February. Initially, they sent Rs 10,000 to the student for carrying out medical tests. As they sent her the money, she had no reason to suspect them. “The student did the medical tests and reverted with the results. The conversations took place over WhatsApp and email. Once they received the results, they began asking money from the student for registration, clearances, and other formalities. They seem to have interacted with the student for nearly nine months. A total of 50 transactions seem to have taken place. All the transactions happened over PhonePe. We have booked a case under 420 IPC (Cheating) and 66D of the IT Act and we are investigating,” the Cyber Cell SI said.
The cyber crooks had promised Rs 7 crore for the student’s kidney. They had also said that Rs 3.5 crore would be paid as advance before the surgery. According to the police, the crooks sent the student a screenshot to show that they had transferred Rs 3.5 crore to a certain account and that she would have to pay the exchange rate and other formalities to receive the money.
The student lost a total of Rs 16 lakh in this fraud. When asked how the student’s father was in the dark about so many transactions, the police said that the student had his account details as she had to make some online payments for her studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The alerts from the bank, for the expenses, were also received on the student’s phone. The student’s parents aren’t very educated and hence they didn’t know what was transpiring. When she realised her folly, she opened up to her father. The issue was then brought to our notice, we have launched an investigation into the case,” said the cyber cell SI.