Kozhikode: Online fraud has claimed one more life in Kerala. A 16-year-old boy died by suicide allegedly after he received a fake message in the name of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) seeking payment for accessing an alleged unauthorised movie website on his mother's laptop, police said here on Friday.
Adinath, a plus-one student was found hanging in his apartment in Chevayur here on Wednesday evening. A suicide note recovered from his room gave indications about the online fraud, which is suspected to have claimed the life of the teenager, a police officer said.
In the suicide note addressing his mother, the boy said he didn't log into any unauthorised website but watched a movie on a legitimate website on her laptop, the officer said.
"In the laptop, there was a fake message in the name of the NCRB saying that as he accessed an unauthorised website, he had to pay an amount of over Rs 30,000, failing which it would invite a fine of a huge amount and imprisonment. This seemed to have scared the boy," he told PTI.
Police checked the browser history of the laptop but there was no indication that the deceased student had accessed any illegal website, he further said. "We don't know whether it was deleted...but anyway a detailed scientific probe is needed to bring out the truth," he said. The police have already launched an investigation and would soon collect more details from the boy's parents who shifted to another house following his demise, the officer added.
(with PTI inputs)
