58-yr-old man loses ₹11.77 lakh to cyber fraudsters posing as Facebook friend

Police said that the victim alleged that he fell prey to an online scam after accepting a random friend request from a woman based in England on July 20.

GurugramA 58-year-old retired government teacher was defrauded of nearly ₹11.77 lakh by cyber fraudsters who posed as a woman from England, police said on Tuesday.

An FIR was registered at Cyber police station in Manesar .

Officials familiar with the matter said that the Farrukhnagar police station received a complaint on Monday from a man being duped by cyber fraudsters from July 28 to July 30. In the complaint, which was later transferred to Cyber police station Manesar (IMT Sector 08), the victim alleged that he fell prey to an online scam after accepting a random friend request from a woman based in England on July 20.

The scammers first contacted the victim July 20, Ramniwas (goes by single name), a resident of Bharali Basti area in Farrukhnagar, on Facebook through a fake profile named ‘Victoria Philip Johan’, according to police.

Investigators said that cyber fraudsters, using the woman’s Facebook profile, befriended Ramniwas and gained his trust through regular WhatsApp chats. The fraudsters impersonating Johan expressed their desire to visit India soon.

After that, Ramniwas received a phone call on July 28 from someone posing as an immigration officer at the Mumbai International Airport. The unidentified man claimed that Johan was detained at the airport for carrying $50,000 ( ₹58 lakh), according to investigators. Later, the phone was passed to a woman acting as Johan, who requested Ramniwas to transfer ₹37,500 via an online payment app for her to be released.

Investigators added that Ramniwas paid the amount in the hope that Johan would repay his money. Johan requested him to transfer another ₹85,000 for an anti-money laundering (AML) certificate to stay in India, to which Ramniwas agreed.

The cyber fraudsters, posing as police officials, further demanded a third installment of ₹1.75 lakh on the same day to transfer ₹58 lakh seized from Johan to her account.

Accordingly, Ramniwas kept paying multiple installments of taxes and security charges to ten different accounts until the amount reached ₹11,77,499, said investigators.

An FIR was registered at Cyber police station in Manesar under sections 318(4) (cheating and dishonest induction of delivery of property) and 319 (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the IT Act, and police officers are further investigating the case.