41-year-old unemployed Indian villager travels more than 1,000 miles to London to claim bogus online lottery

An Indian villager recently travelled more than a thousand miles to claim a bogus prize.

41-year-old unemployed Indian villager Ratan Kumar Malbisoi fell for a message he received on his mobile phone nearly two years ago.

The message said he had won the BBC's national lottery for 20 or 30 million rupees, and was asked to send his details so that they could send him the money, the BBC reported.

A poor man, with little formal education, he was unable to fathom that this was a phishing message and that he was being "scammed".

Cyber law expert Pavan Duggal says even though Malbisoi has not paid any money, if the identity of the scammers is established, they can be punished with a jail term and a monetary fine under Section 66C and 66A of India's IT (Information-Technology) Act.