76-year-old man in Ambernath loses Rs4.65 lakh to online fraud

The accused lured the septuagenarian from Ambernath with romantic messages; the senior citizen fell for them and sent cash to five different account numbers given by some unknown persons, thus losing Rs4.65 lakh to online fraud

An unknown person pretending to be a woman on social media looted a 76-year-old man from Ambernath of ₹4.65 lakh, which was his retirement money.

In an online fraud, an unknown person pretending to be a woman on social media looted a 76-year-old man from Ambernath of ₹4.65 lakh, which was his retirement money. (HT FILE)

The person lured the septuagenarian with romantic messages. The senior citizen fell for them and sent cash to five different account numbers given by some unknown persons. They told him that the money was to free the girl stuck at the customs office at Mumbai airport but later he found he was cheated. A case has been registered against the five accused in Ambernath police station.

The complainant, Pascal Gonsalves, met the user Miss Ethad on Facebook. According to Ambernath police, they became friends and chatted many times. Recently, Ethad told Gonsalves that she came to Mumbai to surprise him but was held by a customs officer for the expensive gift that she brought for him. Later, he got a call from a different number pretending as a custom officer and asked to pay fine for the gift if he wanted to release Ethad.

An Ambernath police station officer said, “The complainant panicked and acted as per their guidelines. The accused then sent him different bank account details, telling him different fines were imposed on various items and asked him to transfer cash immediately. The complainant who saved all his income all these years got trapped and lost ₹4.65 lakh in this. Later he tried to call Ethad but the number was unavailable. That was when he realised that he was cheated. He came to us and filed an FIR against five people who held five bank accounts numbers to which he transferred the money.”