Woman arrested for duping businessman

A 39-year-old woman was arrested for her links with a gang of international cheats who used to deceive businessmen by promising huge investments in their business, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said today.

A 39-year-old woman was arrested for her links with a gang of international cheats who used to deceive businessmen by promising huge investments in their business, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said on Friday.

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Theresa Jovita D’Souza from Goa, who operated as Rhea Jannet Mallon, was arrested from Paharganj on November 27, said Sandeep Goel, joint commissioner of police (EOW).

“Her arrest followed investigations into a complaint filed by P Rahmatullah, a granite stone trader in Andhra Pradesh that in July 2012, one Johnson Mallon claiming to be a British national contacted him through emails that he was interested to be his business partner,” said Goel.

Initially, D’Souza and Mallon met the complainant’s sons at the Ashoka Hotel in Delhi during which she introduced herself as Rhea Jannet Mallon.

To convince the victims, the ‘couple’ even provided photocopies of their passports and promised investments in their granite business. the police said.

“During these meetings, the duo told the complainants that $8,00,000 (over Rs. 4 crore), was stuck with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Delhi and they
intended to invest part of the same money in Rahmatullah’s business,” Goel said.

The accused sought Rs. 10 lakh from Rahmatullah for getting a clearance from IMF. Rahmatullah transferred Rs. 9 lakh in two bank accounts, the police added.

“Meanwhile, Rahmatullah received a couple of mails — purportedly from the IMF and the RBI intimating him regarding the clearance awaited of the said amount. He also received phone calls, allegedly from the RBI in Delhi asking him to transfer another Rs. 1.20 lakh,” added Goel. The complainant got suspicious and verified the authenticity of the mails from RBI in Delhi only to find that they were bogus.