Nagpur: Online game scammers dupe 9-yr-old, make away with 1L

A 33-year-old female YouTuber suffered financial loss when her nine-year-old son, who was allowed to play online games, was targeted by a cyber criminal. The scammers were able to convince the child to transfer Rs 1.02 lakh using his mother's mobile phone.

By playing online games, the young boy was targeted by fraudsters who used tactics to obtain personal information about his family. The criminals then coerced him into sending money by threatening to kidnap him and his one-and-a-half-year-old sister.

According to the police, Alfiya Sheikh, a YouTuber, had a son who used to play the game "Free Fire" on her mobile phone during his leisure time. The game permits players to converse with their teammates online. In the previous month, while the minor was playing the game, four additional players, namely SK Bhaijan, Pramod Kalu, Akshad, and Deepak Bora, also joined.

The four players engaged the young boy in conversation and obtained all relevant details about his family. The minor was not aware of the possible consequences and truthfully provided all the requested information.

Additionally, the four players asked the minor to reveal his mother's Google Pay pin, which he did. Following this, the accused individuals began to frighten the young boy by making threats to kidnap him and his younger sister.

The young boy became frightened and intimidated by the accused individuals. Consequently, they provided him with instructions on how to send money through his mother's mobile phone. The minor complied with their directions and sent a total of Rs 1.02 lakh between March 20 and April 6.

As per the police, the young boy transferred money to the accused individuals eight times using his mother's Google Pay account. On Saturday, the boy's health took a sudden turn for the worse and he began to cry loudly.

Sources said all the money was diverted to the account of Kalu.