E-Paper
83-year-old duped by cyber fraud
An 83-year-old lawyer was scammed of ₹6 lakh by a woman claiming to need help with seized funds at Delhi airport; police are investigating.
MUMBAI: An 83-year-old lawyer was allegedly duped of ₹6 lakh by cyber fraudsters after he was approached by a woman claiming to be from London, who requested for his monetary help to “release her funds” that she claimed was seized by Indian authorities at the Delhi airport. The case was registered at the Govandi police station against unknown persons and the police is working with the cyber police to investigate the case.
According to the police, the lawyer is a resident of Govandi. He lives with his eldest son, his younger son and daughter live abroad. The lawyer received a message from an unknown number on his mobile phone from someone who went by Amelia Florida. She told him she was from London, where she lives with her mother and manages her father’s real estate and gold business. After exchanging a few messages with her, the lawyer became more friendly, and they began to share pictures with each other. During one of the conversations, Amelia told him that her aunt wanted 700g of gold from a renowned Indian jeweller and requested the lawyer to guide her in this purchase.
According to the complaint, she told him she would come to India on October 24 and visit Mumbai by a domestic flight. She sent him a photograph of flight ticket from London to Delhi via WhatsApp. On October 24, she called the lawyer at 11.30am claiming she was stopped at the Delhi airport for carrying UK Pounds worth ₹1 lakh. To have her money released by the Indian authorities, she would have to pay ₹96,000. She requested for the lawyer’s financial help with this amount and provided him with a bank account number of Punjab and Sind Bank for him to deposit the cash.
She called him on October 25 and requested an additional ₹2.35 lakhs to avail an anti-money laundering certificate. The lawyer paid this through RTGS. Later that day at 4pm, she claimed she was going to the Royal Bank of Scotland, Gurgaon branch, accompanied by officials from Delhi Airport to convert her money into Indian currency. She requested him to pay ₹9.65 lakhs for conversion charges. The lawyer paid ₹3 lakh more on October 28 through RTGS. She forced him to deposit ₹6.65 lakh for the Royal Bank of Scotland Bank, saying that her currency would not be converted otherwise. The lawyer then enquired about the bank and then found her suspicious as there was no Royal Bank of Scotland in Gurgaon. He approached the police and filed a complaint.
A case was registered against unknown persons under sections 318 (cheating and dishonesty), 319 (2) (cheating by impersonation), and relevant sections under IT Act in Govandi police station.
