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Hyderabad: Twenty-seven-year-old high school teacher Deepa (name changed) from Gachibowli was befriended by a foreign national online three months back and over time and many chat sessions, she fell in love with him. By the time she realised that the man, who had promised to marry her, was a fraud and approached the Cyberabad Cybercrime police, he had conned her out of Rs 18 lakh.
Ms Deepa said that she met the man, who claimed to be a geologist, on an online chat forum. “He started talking matters that interested her as a teacher. They grew closer over chats and he expressed his desire to marry her, and she was ready,” said Cyber crime ACP S. Jayaram. After several weeks, the man told Ms Deepa that he would come down to meet her and they fixed a date. It was then that he started playing his game. “The man told her that he would send her jewellery and valuable gifts worth several lakhs through courier.
He told her that once the package reached India, she would get a call from the service providers to receive it. After a few days, a person claiming to be an official from the Customs department in Delhi called her and said that a package had arrived in her name. He also told her that it contained gold, gifts and foreign currency and that she would have to pay some money to clear the package,” said the ACP.
Ms Deepa was asked to deposit the money in various accounts towards customs clearance charges, RBI clearance, different taxes, and even an “anti terrorism fund”. “She paid Rs 18 lakh in deposits, but never got her gift. She then realised that it was a scam and approached us,” said Mr Jayaram.
“Romantic” cyber scammers luring unmarried professionals and MNC employees with wedding proposals have become a headache for police. The frauds specifically target women techies and MNC workers through Facebook and propose to them after convincing them that they are well off. After sending some gifts, they extort money from victims. Cybercrime police is investigating two similar cases that occurred last week. Officials say that people must be careful.
