Man loses ₹90L to conmen who promise to ‘legalise’ his PhD

Man loses ₹90L to conmen who promise to ‘legalise’ his PhD

Santoshkumar.B@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:18.04.2021

A 36-year-old aerospace design engineer from T Dasarahalli lost over $1,20,000 (Rs 90 lakh) to a gang of cybercriminals, who promised to legalise his PhD degree obtained through distance education in 2015, when he was working with a private firm in Germany.

Sumanth (name changed) approached North CEN crime police on April 8, and filed a cheating and cybercrime case.

Sumanth said he completed his BE in aerospace design engineering and joined a private company in 2014. He was deployed to Germany and had been searching for study opportunities online or through distance education to utilise his free time.

“I found a PhD opportunity through online study from Must University, which claims to be based in the US. I enrolled there and completed the course in aerospace design by 2015. After completing two years of work in Germany, I returned to Bengaluru,” Sumanth said.

Sumanth said that he received a call from a stranger in 2018 and was informed that his PhD was not genuine as he got it from an unaided university. The caller said the PhD could be transferred to an aided university in the US to legitimise it. Sumanth ignored the call then.

“But in November 2019, I received a call from another number and this time the caller claimed he was from the US embassy office in Delhi. He threatened that I would be jailed if I don’t cancel my PhD or get it legalised,” Sumanth explained.

Sumanth said he agreed to cancel his PhD and paid $2,000 to a bank account provided by the stranger to cancel the degree. Within a few weeks, another stranger contacted him on phone and informed him that there was no provision to cancel his PhD and promised that he’d help Sumanth transfer his PhD to an aided university and get a legal degree. The fraudsters sent fake acceptance letters in the name of California State University.

Sumanth said the strangers posed as police and attorneys from the US. “They threatened me saying I have to follow their instructions or face legal consequences. I was scared and paid more than $1,20,000 to the callers in multiple transactions. They promised me that the money would be reimbursed once all procedures were completed,” he added.

Sumanth suspected something foul as the miscreants started demanding more money in the name of various charges and discussed the developments with his friend. He approached CEN crime police based on a suggestion from his friend and learnt that he had been cheated.

The aerospace design engineer had done PhD through distance mode in 2015. He got a call from a stranger in 2018 who said his PhD was not genuine but could be legitimised. He received another call in 2019, with the caller threatening Sumanth would be jailed if he didn’t cancel the PhD or get it legalised