Director Venky Kudumula today confirmed that he was indeed scammed by a cyber-criminal on the pretext of securing National Award nominations for 'Bheeshma'. Addressing several speculations and concerns in the wake of the news, the 'Chalo' director said that he went to the town against the fraudster with the sole intention of helping others stay alert about online scams.

It all began when one Naveen called the director up and told him about getting nominations for awards in exchange for monetary payment as a fee. Venky felt that 'Bheeshma' may have been considered for the awards because it talked about organic farming. Moreover, a friend of Venky has known Naveen for two years.

Veny transferred Rs 63,600 to Naveen. A day later, the person asked for more money, saying that the previous day's amount would be duly returned. "It felt a little fishy. I got back in touch with my friend, who told me that he has known Naveen only through a few back and forth messages with him," Venky clarified in the Thursday statement.

"These fraudsters can come to us from any direction, pretending to be someone they’re not or using a connection that isn’t even real. Many friends suggested I should not file a complaint and asked me to keep quiet. But should I? NO. I went ahead and filed a complaint just to make sure that fraudsters don’t repeat this with anyone else from our industry or anyone outside as well," Venky added.