Mohali woman duped of Rs 9 lakh by her British Facebook friend

A Phase-4 resident, Loveneet Kaur, has complained to police that she was duped of Rs 9 lakh by a British national who befriended with her through the social networking website Facebook.

In her complaint, Lovneet has stated that one James Bayson sent a friend request to her through Facebook, and later they became good friends. Both used to talk over phone for long hours, she stated.

On May 25, Bayson was to visit her here in India. On the same day, she received a call from him, saying he was at the international airport in New Delhi and was unable to exchange his UK currency. He then asked her to deposit Rs 9 lakh in his account and Lovneet deposited the said amount. However, Bayson never met her and later did not even pick up her phone calls.

In her complaint, she mentioned that the accused also deleted his Facebook profile.

Police have registered a case under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

A senior police official said the complainant in the case was known to the alleged accused, and had deposited the money in his account. "We are probing the case,"said senior superintendent of police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar.

Meanwhile, police said most of the cases with the cyber cell are mainly related to abuses and threats using social networking websites and mobile apps, and not many cases of fraud are registered.