Mumbai: A 26-year-old data engineer lost Rs29.57 lakh to the cons who fleeced him on the pretext of helping him with online dating. In his police complaint lodged last week, the Andheri resident said that it all started on January 10 when he was surfing the internet for information related to dating.
During the search, he came across a phone number and dialled it. The call was answered by a woman, who told the complainant that she works for a dating company, which recommends high society people for dating. When the man inquired about charges, he was asked to pay at different stages for registration, profile selection, privacy and legal agreement.
After he accepted the deal, the fraudster shared the contact of another 'colleague', saying that she would assist him further. The latter then shared some profiles of women with the man, who liked one of the potential 'dates' and they even spoke with each other for a while. Between January 10 and March 2, the complainant paid Rs29.57 lakh in different accounts shared by the scammers. He only sensed the fraud after they abruptly stopped responding to his calls.
A case has been filed under the Indian Penal Code sections, including that of cheating, as well as the Information Technology Act. The man has shared the contact details, email addresses and beneficiary accounts used by the scammers with the police.
