A 30-year-old Bandra-based woman was duped to the tune of ₹10 lakh by a man she met on a dating website and an unidentified woman who claimed to be from Delhi Airport's customs department. The woman, a product manager, was to meet her online friend in person, wherein he was coming to meet her from England, however, minted ₹10 lakh from her on the pretext of various charges levied on him by the customs department at the Delhi Airport. A case of cheating and common intention under the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act has been registered at Khar police station.
According to police, the woman had met the man, identified as Arjun Acharya, on a dating application, OkCupid, on June 4. Acharya, who claimed to be from England, connected with the woman and the duo began chatting, subsequently making calls to one another frequently. After just four days of chatting, Acharya said that he wanted to meet in person and was coming to India. On June 8, the woman received a call from Acharya, wherein he asked her to wire ₹1.22 lakh for health insurance and visa, as he was caught by the customs officer at Delhi airport.
The next day, another woman, who claimed to be from Delhi airport asked the product manager to wire ₹3.24 lakh as Acharya was in possession of undeclared pounds and was charged with a fine, along with tax of ₹5.61 lakh, making a total payment of ₹10,09,210 to Acharya and the woman, only to be demanded an extra ₹2.5 lakh for verification. "Upon finding it weird, I asked the woman to refund me the amount I paid until then, only to be blatantly refused. It was then I realised that I was duped by Acharya and the unidentified woman," the product manager said in her statement.
Subsequently, she approached Khar Police and lodged an FIR, wherein Acharya and the woman were booked under relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act. While no arrests have been made, police are probing the matter to ascertain the real identities of the two accused in the case.
