A woman from Mumbai’s Colaba has been defrauded Rs 3 lakh in a cyber scam after she was deceived by a fraudster who posed as a UK businessman on a matrimonial site. The woman, aged 30, had come across a Facebook page named ‘UK Marriage’ on March 10 and clicked on the WhatsApp symbol given in the said advertisement. She was then connected to a United Kingdom-based individual named Rahul Khanna, who was reportedly looking for a bride on matrimonial sites.
After chatting on WhatsApp for some time, Khanna informed the woman that he had bought expensive gifts for her and was sending them to India. A few days later, she received a WhatsApp call from a person from ‘Customs’ at Delhi airport, informing her that her gifts had arrived. The caller asked her to pay a certain fee to receive the gifts. On Khanna’s insistence, the woman paid ‘fees’ amounting to around Rs 3.06 lakh between March 11 and March 14, to various bank accounts.
However, when the woman failed to receive the gifts and Khanna cut off all communication, she realized that she had been cheated and approached the Colaba police to file a complaint. The police have registered a case against unknown fraudsters under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act for cheating and impersonation.
A police officer said that from the modus operandi, they suspect the involvement of Nigerian fraudsters in the case. The police have advised citizens to be cautious while interacting with strangers online and not to disclose their personal information or bank account details to anyone.
