Kamothe ex-serviceman duped by woman for ₹1.38 crore

A mystery woman befriended him through whatsapp and lured him into investing money in hold trading through apps for high returns. Initially he got returns, and continued investing in higher amounts till she stopped responding to his calls

NAVI MUMBAI: An ex-serviceman from Kamothe was cheated of ₹1.38 crore by a woman who befriended him via whatsapp in 2020.

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The complainant identified Thomas Payli Machukadayil, 51, a resident of sector 10 in Kamothe, was first approached by a woman who identified herself as Nicole Lein in the year 2020 via whatsapp call which carried country code of United Kingdom. She convinced him that he should invest in gold trading and made him download an app called ‘Malamo’. Later, she made him invest ₹50,000 in the app for the trading. “He received ₹54,000 in return for his investment which made him believe the woman. This is the usual technique of the cyber crooks to win the confidence by showing that they would get good returns. And later they make the victim invest in big numbers and would not give any returns later,” a police officer from Kamothe police station said.

Next, she made him invest ₹15 lakh which he lost. The complainant then decided to shut his account with the app that is when she told him about another app named GIC which she claimed gives more returns. “This time she told him that she too would be investing in the app in order to help him recover his lost amount,” the officer added. In the name of investing, she made him transfer a total of ₹1.23 crore via NEFT to a total of nine accounts.

The complainant could see that there was ₹20.95 crore shown in the app as balance amount in the app which was the returns he earned. The complainant wanted to withdraw the amount and hence told Lein to help him get that. Lein further asked him to transfer more money in another account number and that is when he got suspicious of the scheme and decided not to transfer.

When he tried to withdraw the amount, it said that he could not and then he tried to speak to Lein but she later avoided his calls and blocked him following which he approached Kamothe police with a complaint. A FIR was registered this week. “With the help of cyber cell, we are investigating the case further,” the officer added.