Mumbai woman duped of ₹41 lakh by Facebook friend, two arrested

According to the cyber police, the complainant and the accused became friends on Facebook in December last year

A woman was allegedly duped of Rs41 lakh by an unidentified person who befriended her on social networking site Facebook while posing as a foreign national. Two men have been arrested but the mastermind is still at large.

According to the cyber police, the complainant and the accused became friends on Facebook in December last year (Pic for Representation)

According to the cyber police, the complainant and the accused became friends on Facebook in December last year.

To win her trust, the man told her he would transfer some money into her account if she helped him convert his two lakh British pounds into Indian rupees.

He also said that he would come to Mumbai to meet her and her parents in April.

Earlier this month, the man told her he had been detained by a customs officer at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and asked her to transfer money to help him get out of the situation.

The woman believed him and transferred Rs41 lakh to three different bank accounts.

She soon realised that she had been conned and alerted the Mumbai police and her bank.

Acting on her complaint, the cops arrested two men on April 9 who tried to withdraw the amount she had transferred.

The cyber police later came to know that the mastermind had used these two men’s bank accounts while promising them a share of the spoils. The arrested accused are Shahabuddin Shaikh, 23, from New
Delhi and Gulzar Shaikh, 24, from Uttar Pradesh, said the police.

Deputy commissioner of police, cyber, Akhileshkumar Singh said, “We do not know if the person who posed as her friend on the social network is an Indian national or a foreigner.” An FIR has been registered under sections 419, 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and 66D of the Information Technology Act.

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