A 35-year-old woman working at a senior position in a private company was duped of ₹68,500 by her dating app ‘friend’, police said.
The woman met the person through a dating application. The fraudster claimed to be a doctor from Glasgow in the United Kingdom (UK).
He told the victim that he had come to Delhi to meet her and was detained by the Customs officials since he was carrying a large number of pounds. The victim was then induced to pay money in order to get her friend released. According to the Andheri police, the victim is a resident of Jogeshwari.
How the victim was duped by the accused
On January 26, the victim had come in contact with a person through a dating application, who claimed to be a doctor from the UK. The two then became friends and began chatting over the phone.
On Sunday, the accused had told the victim that he would be coming to India to meet her. On Monday, the victim received a phone call from a woman claiming to be calling from Delhi airport, informing the victim that Customs had detained her friend since he was carrying pounds valued at ₹50 lakh.
The victim was then made to speak to her friend, who was crying over the phone and pleaded with the victim to help him get released. The fraudsters then induced the victim to transfer ₹68,500.
Woman smells something suspicious
When the fraudsters demanded more ₹1.75 lakh, she suspected something amiss and contacted the Customs helpline number. The victim was informed that she had been duped. She then approached the police and got a complaint lodged on Tuesday.
The police have registered a case under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
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