Ggm woman duped of ₹1.74 lakh by fraudsters

A 35-year-old woman was cheated of ?1.74 lakh ($2,330) by a fraudster who posed as a potential groom on a matrimonial website. The man claimed to be a project manager at a Turkish diamond firm and gained the woman's confidence before asking for her postal address and sending a parcel that claimed to contain foreign currency. The woman received a call purporting to be from a customs official who demanded ?38,500 for the parcel. The woman paid the money but was then threatened into paying more. An FIR has been registered and police are investigating.

Gurugram: A 35-year-old woman was allegedly cheated of ₹1.74 lakh by a fraudster who impersonated himself as a potential groom, Gurugram police said Sunday, adding that the suspects are yet to be traced.

Ggm woman duped of ₹1.74 lakh by fraudsters

Investigators said the victim had created her profile on a matrimonial website and became friends with the suspect in March this year. The fraudster said he is a project manager of a Turkish diamond firm.

They said the victim, identified as Samikshya Subhadarshini, soon felt suspicious but the fraudster was able to gain her confidence. He had asked for her postal address and told her that he was sending some gift items.

As per police, Subhadarshini, a resident of Sector 70, received a call from a woman after a few days who impersonated herself as a customs official posted in Mumbai and asked her to pay ₹38,500 as customs clearance fees for a parcel meant for her from Turkey.

The suspect also told her that the parcel contained foreign currencies.

Investigators said that the victim transferred the amount into the bank account provided by the suspect. They said that after the first payment, the woman again rang her up and this time she asked her to make another payment of ₹1.35 lakh.

Police said Subhadarshini refused to pay the money, but the fraudsters threatened her by saying that they would get her arrested on grounds of money laundering. Police added that the victim woman felt threatened and deposited ₹1.35 lakh on March 21.

Investigators said the suspects later started putting more pressure on her to pay ₹2.5 lakh more. A senior police officer said that even after her refusal, they kept threatening her of dire consequences as they had her home address.

“She submitted an online complaint for cyber fraud to the police. After initial investigation, it surfaced that the account in which the money was transferred was in Aizawl, Mizoram,” the officer added.

On the victim’s complaint, an FIR against the unidentified suspects was registered under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Cyber Crime (South) police station on Friday, said police.

Subhash Boken, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said a detailed investigation is underway to trace the suspects and arrest them.