The police are on the lookout for a gang of scammers, who approached a 29-year-old woman through a matrimonial website and duped her to the tune of Rs 13.54 lakh. One of the accused had connected with the victim on the matrimonial website, claiming to be settled in the US. He then told the victim that gift items which he sent to her has been seized by Customs and then onwards, induced the victim to transfer money in different beneficiary bank accounts.
According to the police, the victim is a resident of Mumbra, Thane. The victim had created her profile on a matrimonial website. She had received a request from the profile of a man who claimed to be from the US. The two exchanged their contact numbers and began chatting regularly. The accused also told the victim that he would soon come to India and would marry her. After some time, the accused told the victim that he had sent her an engagement ring which was seized by the Customs officials.
The fraudster then gave bank account details of a Mumbai based "Customs Officer" and induced her to transfer Rs2.19 lakh in the said bank account. He also told the victim that he has a diamond and gold business in Uganda which he wanted to shift to the US and for that he has to pay Customs charges. The accused kept on asking for money from the victim on different pretexts and assured that he would pay all her money once he comes to India.
Over the period of time, the victim ended up transferring Rs13.54 lakh in different beneficiary bank accounts provided by the scammers. When she confronted the accused on when he would come to India and marry her, the latter kept giving her evasive replies. The victim then made inquiries about the scammers and learnt that their network was spread in Bhopal, Kolkata and Mumbai. Having realised that she had been duped, the victim approached the police and got an offence registered in the matter.
A case has been registered by the Thane police under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections 66C (identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
