Mumbai: Social media friend dupes retired Indian Navy official for Rs 32 Lakhs by claiming to send 'birthday gift'

Trusting an unknown social media 'friend' proved costly for a 50-year-old retired Indian Navy official. The unknown woman, who claimed to be from the United Kingdom, told the victim that she was sending him a birthday gift parcel and induced the victim to pay a whopping Rs 32.67 lakh in order to claim the gift.

According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Badlapur. The victim in his complaint had stated that in October last year, an unknown woman had contacted him on social media. The woman claimed to be from the UK and she also exchanged her number with the victim. The woman had told the victim that she was sending him a birthday gift.

"On October 21, the victim received a phone call from a woman claiming to be calling from the Delhi airport. The woman informed the victim that his parcel had arrived and that he would have to pay money in order to get the parcel released. Till December last year, the victim ended up paying Rs 32.67 lakh to the accused persons involved in the racket by depositing money in various bank accounts in order to claim the parcel," said a police officer.

He added, when the demand for money continued, the victim realised that he was being duped after which he approached the police and got a complaint lodged in the matter. A case has been registered by the police under sections 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.

"We appeal to citizens not to trust any unknown person on social media. Especially when someone is making claims to send gifts, money etc as a friendly gesture, one has to be very cautious as such frauds are extremely rampant. The victim has provided us details of the bank account in which he had deposited money and we are taking all efforts to trace the culprits involved," the officer said.