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48-year-old Bengaluru techie loses ₹50 lakh after falling prey to dating app match: Report
The woman asked the victim to invest some money into the stock market through a firm that she was aware of for good returns.
Another Bengaluru techie got scammed through a dating app after getting a match online and lost ₹50 lakh hard earned money, reported The Times of India. The victim reached out to Bengaluru’s Cyber Economic and Narcotics Crime Police Station and filed a complaint.
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According to a report, a 48-year-old software engineer downloaded a dating app called Happn and met a girl named Shruti. They both texted each other and spoke for a few days and decided to get married to each other.
Shruti then asked the man to invest some money into the stock market through a firm that she was aware of for good returns. Speaking to the publication, the victim said, “I was initially asked to transfer ₹40,000 to a bank account which is in the name of Rupai Enterprises. After sending, they immediately sent back ₹50,000 and said I earned ₹10,000 profit. She then asked me to invest more money into it as I am making profits.”
He further brought his life savings and decided to invest in the same way to make big returns. “I had about ₹10 lakh and invested ₹6.5 lakh into it. This was transferred to another account and the profit was displayed in the portal. I had an LIC policy matured and invested another ₹6 lakh rupees. Later invested ₹10 lakh, ₹5.88 lakh and ₹13 lakh in different phases,” he said.
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However, he realized that it could be a scam when he was asked to pay a high amount of taxes while withdrawing the money. He said, out of ₹50 lakh I had invested, the portal showed I made ₹23 lakh profit and total money was ₹73 lakh. When I tried to withdraw, they said that I am supposed to pay ₹32 lakh as tax. I contacted Shruti and she started bargaining with me and started influencing me to pay at least ₹8 lakh as tax amount.”
He revealed to the police that Shruti never met him in person, and whenever she talked, she never moved. He also suspected that all video calls could have been recorded. The Bengaluru police have registered a case, and the investigation is ongoing.
