The Noida Police has launched an investigation after a cyber thug allegedly conned a city resident of Rs 42 lakh after befriending her over social media, officials said on Wednesday. The 32-year-old woman, who lives in Sector 45 here and works as a teacher, told the police that she befriended the man on Facebook and several conversations later she fell for the con trap, the officials said.
In a complaint to the local Sector 39 police station, she said, “After a few days of chats, he asked me for my address. Initially I declined but gave it after his repeated requests.”
“Then some days later, I got a phone call from a woman who said a parcel has arrived at her office from Mumbai. It’s in my name and carries some gold jewellery, wrist watches and Rs 50 lakh to Rs 55 lakh in cash. But I need to pay a processing fee for the parcel’s clearance,” she claimed. The woman said she eventually ended up paying Rs 42 lakh to the conman before she realised she had been trapped.
The woman had paid the money online in six installments over a period of 45 days and even taken some loan for it, according to police officials. A local police official said an FIR has been lodged in the case on the basis of a complaint by the woman for fraud and under provisions of the Information Technology Act. While the identity of the person behind the Facebook account is yet to be ascertained, the police named “Aarti” as an accused in the FIR since the woman had called the victim over the phone had identified herself with that name, the official said.
Further probe in the case is underway, the official added. Police officials, meanwhile, cautioned people against online fraud and asked them to report such cons immediately on the dedicated helpline number 155260.
In a similar such fraud, a woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli district was recently duped of Rs 32 lakh by a person whom she had befriended on social media. The Raebareli police had last week claimed to have busted the case by arresting three Nigerian nationals, who were part of a gang located in outer Delhi, the officials said.
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