E-Paper
Facebook contact dupes 60-year-old of ₹4 crore in “gift-stuck-at-airport” scam
PUNE A 60-year-old woman from Pune has been duped of ₹4 crore through an online gift fraud, initiated by someone she became friends with on Facebook
PUNE A 60-year-old woman from Pune has been duped of ₹4 crore through an online gift fraud, initiated by someone she became friends with on Facebook.
The complainant holds a senior position in a major private company, the names of which the police refused to reveal.
The woman received a friend request in the first week of April 2020 from an account that had an English national’s credentials, including photo, according to her complaint.
The account holder then asked for her WhatsApp number and started chatting with her on it. The two were corresponding through social media for five-six months. The unnamed accused then told the victim he was sending her an iPhone for her birthday.
However, the accused later told her that her gift was stuck at customs at Delhi airport.
“It started with an iPhone and he kept adding to it - jewellery, foreign currency, and other valuables. They also put the fear of the customs department coming after her if she does not retrieve the gift from them,” said police inspector Ankush Chintaman of the cyber police station, who is investigating the case.
The woman made 207 transactions within six months to 67 different bank accounts in various states of India, according to police.
A total of ₹3,98,75,500 was transferred from two of the victim’s bank accounts.
“All the transactions are cash transfers. They had spent months in gaining her trust. When the numbers involved started coming off and unresponsive, she realised that she had been duped,” said PI Chintaman.
A case under Sections 419 (personation), 420 (cheating), and 385 (extortion, puts any person in fear of injury) and Section 66(c) and 66(d) of Information Technology Act has been registered at the cyber police station.
