Mumbai: Woman loses Rs 57 Lakh in matrimonial fraud

A 31-year-old woman working as a branch manager with a finance company has lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime police on Wednesday, claiming that she had lost a whopping Rs 57.39 lakh in a matrimonial fraud. The victim came across a person who claimed to be a civil engineer from London and on the pretext of sending his belongings and foreign currency to the victim, induced the victim to pay the money in different bank accounts to claim the belongings.

According to the police, the victim had set up her profile on a matrimonial website and in August last year, she was approached on the website by a man who claimed to be a civil engineer working in London. The accused proposed to marry the victim and also informed her that he would be visiting Canada for a project work of his. The accused told the victim that after the completion of his project, he would come to India and would stay here.

"The accused told the victim that he would be sending his belongings at her place before leaving for the project. In September, the victim received a phone call from a woman who informed the victim that her parcel had arrived and also contained 1.20 lakh pounds. The victim was then made to deposit money on various pretexts such as import duty, consignment insurance and GST," said a police officer.

He added, "The victim then confronted the accused who told the victim that he would pay all her money on coming to India and requested her to keep making all the payments to claim his belongings. Till January this year, the victim ended up paying a total of Rs 57.39 lakh in various bank accounts provided by the syndicate. When the accused kept demanding for more money, the victim realised that she was being duped and lodged a complaint with the police."

The police have registered a case under sections 34 (common intention), 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (punishment for identity theft) and 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act, police said.

Published on: Friday, March 11, 2022, 06:00 AM IST