Television heartthrob Karan Singh Grover was recently involved in an online scam which cost him Rs 7.70 lakh. Reportedly, the actor received an SMS from Audi Motors, UK stating that he had won a prize money of Rs 4.31 crore and was made to pay a few lakhs as deposit and anti-terrorism certificate charge and a few others before he realised that he was being cheated.
According to the actor's FIR, Karan first received an SMS on May 13 stating that he had won a lottery and that he'd have send a confirmation to mrmorgnsmith212@gmail.com to claim the prize which awaited him in Delhi. Post this, the actor was informed that he needs to pay Rs 24ooo to Morgan Smith's (general manager) agent Harjit Singh for custom clearance which he did.
Karan soon received an e-mail saying that Rs 4.31 crore had been deposited in an account opened in his name and that he could transfer the cash. The mail also mention a Gracy Joshi who was to be contacted with any for further queries. When the actor could not transfer the money to his account as the system asked for a cost of transaction code, he called up Gracy and was asked to deposit Rs 98000 for securing the code. Confirming the news to a leading daily, a police officer further informed, "He had to make more deposits for the tax code and demurrage code."
On may 20, Karan again received a call from Morgan Smith stating that he would need to proclaim a certificate from the United Nations Anti-Terrorism Department declaring that the money will not be used for any sort of terrorist activities. Karan further paid Rs 4.06 lakh for this certificate.
On May 22, Karan was once again asked to shell out Rs 12 lakhs as tax on the prize money. This is when Singh finally realised that the whole lottery stint was a rip off and that he was being taken for a ride.
An FIR has been registered under sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act by the Khar Police station.
