FB ‘friend’ dupes man of ₹1.92 cr in crypto scam

FB ‘friend’ dupes man of ₹1.92 cr in crypto scam 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  23.02.2025 

Ahmedabad : In an era where digital connections often blur the lines between trust and deception, a 48-year-old businessman from Ahmedabad learned a costly lesson. What began as a friendly Facebook interaction evolved into a sophisticated scam, stripping him of Rs 1.92 crore. 

According to a complaint registered with the Cybercrime police on Friday, the fraud began in Aug 2024 when he received a friend request on his Facebook page from a woman claiming to be involved in gym equipment businesses in Dubai and Mumbai. The message read: "Hey, your profile caught my eye while checking my friends' suggestions and thought I would reach out. Can we get to know each other?" 

He responded to her message and soon their chats transitioned to WhatsApp, where she introduced him to a lucrative cryptocurrency investment opportunity, allegedly advised by her uncle, a high-ranking official at an American financial firm. The businessman checked online and found that the company was legitimate. The complainant stated, “My initial investment of $ 500 yielded a profit of $ 250, which encouraged me to make further investments.”He was able to withdraw $1,000 which encouraged him to invest larger sums. 

He eventually saw an online account balance of $677,806 (Rs 6 crore approximately). However, when attempting to withdraw Rs 77 lakh, he was asked to pay a 20% tax upfront. Subsequently, the woman became unreachable, and further research revealed the investment platform was fraudulent. Realizing he had been duped, with only Rs 92,000 returned from his Rs 1.92 crore investment, he reported the matter to the Cybercrime police. 

A complaint for criminal conspiracy, cheating,criminal breach of trust, and cheating by impersonation against an unidentified person has been registered.

AIIMS to shift to Thoppur by early 2026: Official

AIIMS to shift to Thoppur by early 2026: Official

TNN Feb 21, 2025, 0:59 IST

Madurai: AIIMS Madurai is expected to shift its operations to its permanent campus at Thoppur in Madurai by early 2026, according to M Hanumantha Rao, executive director and CEO of the institute. He said in a statement on Thursday that construction of the buildings in phase I is 28% complete. "We are working toward shifting operations to the permanent campus by the end of this year or early next year," Rao said.

Phase I which includes academic block, hospital outpatient services, hostels and essential service buildings, is expected to be completed within 18 months of commencement. Phase II, covering the remaining infrastructure, will be completed within 33 months, by February 2027. He said construction is aligned with global standards, prioritizing sustainability. "We are aiming for an IGBC Gold rating to ensure environmental responsibility and energy efficiency across the campus," he said.

The 900-bed hospital, including a dedicated 150-bed infectious disease block, is designed to be comprehensive and patient-centric, with an academic zone, hospital zone, hostel and residential areas, sports facilities, and a 750-seater auditorium. Faculty recruitment is being carried out in phases. At present, the AIIMS is functioning from its temporary campus at Government Medical College, Ramanathapuram.

Pvt varsities rope in service providers for degree programmes

Pvt varsities rope in service providers for degree programmes

Sruthy Susan Ullas

Feb 19, 2025, 23:48 IST

Bengaluru: Several private universities in the state have started taking the help of service providers to conduct degree programmes, especially in new-age fields where their existing faculty don't have expertise. These programmes range from computer science engineering to BBA to BCom.

Face Prep, for instance, which was into campus placement training for over 16 years, started the business of taking over and running degree programmes in 2023, and is expected to touch 28 colleges in the country for the academic year 2025-26. The courses it handles consist of BCA or BSc in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Machine Learning, BCom in FinTech with Artificial Intelligence, and BBA in eCommerce with Digital Marketing.

"We act as knowledge partners, providing end-to-end solutions for colleges. What makes our programmes different from the conventional curriculum is that students will learn hands-on," said Karthik Raja, CEO of Face Prep. In the model Face Prep offers, it forms the curriculum, which is vetted by the college, sets the criteria for admission, and helps in recruiting and training faculty for the programme.

The CEO of another company providing similar services in healthcare courses said: "These are specifically for new-age programmes that universities are not best poised to either invest in developing curriculum for, training faculty, or setting up skill labs. So, they appoint a service provider. We're a training partner that produces industry-aligned modules and provides placement support and internships. For that scope of work, universities appoint us. The exams, assessment, and award of degrees are done by the colleges."

"For skill-based education, UGC (University Grants Commission) specifically allows universities to appoint a training-cum-placement partner. We help them in curriculum development by bringing industry-side modules, bringing experts from the industry, and setting up skill labs at our own cost," he added.

‘Undervalued profession'

The fact that universities are forced to take the help of service providers is mainly on account of lack of expert faculty, said Rajesh Kumar, CEO and co-founder of Kalvium, which runs computer science engineering programmes in 17 universities, with 13 more in the pipeline for the next academic year.

"The reliance of universities on service providers emerges from the fact that teaching and learning as a profession is extremely undervalued, and the quality of teachers has dipped. This is particularly true in cases like engineering because of the job potential it holds. Hence, there is this move towards partnering with third parties to offer programmes. While PG programmes by service providers have been in practice for some time, UG is just picking up pace now," he said.

"While UGC doesn't permit outsourcing programmes, these service providers act as skill providers, which is permitted by law. This is the space that is being explored by the companies," explained another company CEO working in the domain.

One of the reasons these premier institutions partner with us is the kind of curriculum we've been able to design, which is fairly evolved and advanced compared to what the traditional university system is able to offer

— Rajesh Kumar | CEO & co-founder, Kalvium

TN woman injured in e-scooter battery explosion dies

TN woman injured in e-scooter battery explosion dies

Arockiaraj Johnbosco  TNN

Feb 21, 2025, 21:23 IST

MADURAI: A woman, who suffered severe burn injuries after an electric scooter battery exploded a week ago, died in Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital on Friday.

The explosion happened in a poultry unit and piggery -- owned by Devadoss of Anaikudi in Tirunelveli district -- on Feb 15.

The victim, Jansi Papa from Idachivilai in Tuticorin, was working in his farm. Devadoss has two electric scooters which he used to charge in his farm. On Feb 14, he disconnected batteries from the scooters and took them to the chicken incubation room in his poultry farm. After charging them during the night, he decided to charge them again the following morning.

Police said Jansi Papa went to the incubation room the following morning, when one of the batteries exploded causing severe burn injuries to her.

She was rushed to Thisayanvilai primary healthcare centre, from where she was referred to Tirunelveli MCH as her injuries were severe. However, Papa died in the hospital on Friday not responding to the treatment.

The Thisayanvilai police filed a case and were investigating.

NOC of state not mandatory to seek affiliation, says CBSE

NOC of state not mandatory to seek affiliation, says CBSE

Feb 22, 2025, 1:09 IST

Chennai: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that a no-objection certificate (NOC) from state govt is not mandatory to seek affiliation from 2026-27. This move could become another flashpoint between Centre and Tamil Nadu as it could lead to mushrooming of CBSE schools in the state implementing the three-language policy despite opposition from the state govt.

“The schools seeking affiliation with the board henceforth will be permitted to apply on the SARAS portal under various categories with or without a no-objection certificate with effect from 2026-27,” said the notification by CBSE secretary Himanshu Gupta on the amendments to the affiliation bylaws 2018.

Bengaluru woman asks doctor for pills to kill mother-in-law, later claims suicide intent

Bengaluru woman asks doctor for pills to kill mother-in-law, later claims suicide intent

A Bengaluru doctor received a shocking request from a woman asking for tablets to kill her mother-in-law. He informed her that doctors save lives, prompting her to delete the messages. The woman, later traced by police, admitted she wanted to commit suicide and didn't intend to harm anyone else.

TNN Feb 20, 2025, 7:45 IST

A north Bengaluru doctor was shocked by a woman's WhatsApp message asking for tablets to kill her mother-in-law. The doctor reported the incident to the police, who later traced the woman.

Bengaluru: A north Bengaluru doctor was shocked when a woman sent him a WhatsApp message asking for tablets to kill her mother-in-law. But Dr Sunil Kumar from Sanjay Nagar replied that doctors are there to save lives and not to take them, prompting the woman to delete all her messages.

Dr Kumar approached police Tuesday, requesting them to identify the woman and act against her. "This is shocking; it also pains me to see in what time we are living; a woman seeking a doctor's help to kill her mother-in-law with tablets. I clearly told her (through messages) that doctors are there to save lives but not take them; when I said so, she deleted the messages. However, I saved the screenshots and handed them over to police," he told the media.

According to Dr Kumar, he received the messages around 2:10pm Monday. "She typed in Kannada and first said she wanted to ask for something. Then she messaged, asking what if I scolded her; I then asked her what it was about. Then she asked me to prescribe some tablets to kill her aged mother-in-law. She explained that her mother-in-law was 70 years old and would harass her," police quoted the doctor as saying in his complaint.

By the time the woman deleted her messages, Dr Kumar had taken their screenshots.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Nagar police succeeded in tracing the woman by Wednesday evening and summoned her to the station for questioning. Accompanied by her husband, she stated that she actually wanted to commit suicide and never wanted to kill her mother-in-law.

"If I had asked the doctor for tablets to kill myself, he would have definitely refused. So I asked it in a different way. If he had prescribed tablets, I would have taken them and died by suicide," the homemaker, aged around 40 years, said. Her husband works as a driver, and the couple has a minor daughter.

She told cops that she got Dr Kumar's mobile number online.

Doctor gets request from woman in Bengaluru seeking tablet prescription to kill mother-in-law

Doctor gets request from woman in Bengaluru seeking tablet prescription to kill mother-in-law

The accused contacted the doctor after finding his number on Instagram

Updated - February 19, 2025 03:49 pm IST - Bengaluru

The Hindu Bureau

A doctor from Sanjay Nagar in Bengaluru filed a complaint against a woman after she allegedly messaged him seeking help to kill her mother-in-law through medication.

The accused contacted Sunil Kumar after finding his number on Instagram and sent messages seeking a prescription for a tablet which could kill her mother-in-law. She claimed that her mother-in-law is aged and harassing her.

Shocked, he replied that being a doctor, he is supposed to save life and not to kill someone or recommend such an act.

He approached Sanjay Nagar police on February 17 and filed a complaint seeking legal action against the woman, and also submitted the chat history and her contact number.

The police tried to reach the number, but it was switched off.

“We suspect that either it was a prank or the woman was not in her senses when she made the demand,” a police officer said, adding that they are checking her location through call record details.

Published - February 19, 2025 01:52 pm IST