Cyber fraudsters posing as friends online cheated a 50-year-old woman working in Muscat twice for seven long years and made away with ₹50 lakh.
The victim, identified as Vasantha, a resident of RT Nagar, filed a complaint with the North Division cybercrime police seeking help to get back the money on Saturday.
In her complaint, Vasantha said that while working in Muscat, she came in contact with two people online who introduced themselves as Max Newtown and Frank from the United Kingdom. After several rounds of chatting, the duo offered to send her expensive gifts in the form of watches, jewellery, handbags, and cosmetics from the U.K. to Muscat. Vasantha said that someone claiming to be from customs called to inform that a consignment in her name was stuck for want of clearance and forced her to pay a total sum of ₹40 lakh online to get the parcel released in 2016. The victim said she realised later that she had been duped by Max and Frank and tried to reach them, but in vain.
Meanwhile, another man identified as William befriended her on Instagram recently and offered help to track down the accused and get her money back. The accused also said that he would charge a fee for his help and forced her to transfer ₹10 lakh online on December 20, 2023, and turned incommunicado later.
In another incident, a 51-year-old woman fell prey to online trading not only by investing her savings, but also convincing her husband to invest his savings to get good returns. The police have registered a case of identity theft under the IT Act and also under cheating after the couple lost ₹83.5 lakh.
The victim, Nandini Vijaysimha, a resident of Malleswaram, said that she noticed an advertisement on online trading on Instagram and contacted the number to check the details out of curiosity in November 2023. The caller identified herself as Jessica and explained the quick returns on online investment and asked her to download the app. After following the instructions, Ms. Nandini initially invested ₹10,000 and immediately gained returns of ₹2,000 in her app account. Excited by this, Nandini invested ₹17 lakh and convinced her husband Chandrashekhar Haniyoor to invest ₹66,54,000. Soon after the transfer of funds when they was no communication from the other side, the couple realised that they had been cheated and approached the police.
