A 65-year-old retired man lodged a complaint with the Nerul police last week, claiming that he had lost a whopping Rs 5.64 lakh in a matrimonial fraud. The victim came across a woman who claimed to be from London and, on the pretext of sending her important documents, luggage, and foreign currency to the victim, induced the victim to pay the money in a bank account to claim the belongings.
As per the complaint, the victim was living alone as he was having some issues with his wife. He was looking for a woman to get married to again and so he uploaded his profile on a matrimonial website. After some time, he received a marriage request from a woman who claimed to be from London. They shared their numbers and started chatting on WhatsApp.
The woman fraudster, who identified herself as Aliya Williams, told the victim that she wanted to marry him and sent some of her important documents, luggage, and foreign currency through an air parcel to him, saying that it would arrive in three days.
On July 18, the woman called the victim and told him she was going to the US and shared a mobile number to contact for the delivery of the items. When the victim called the number, Savita Sharma, who identified herself as a customs official, told the victim that she found two hundred pounds in the parcel and he needed to pay Rs 35,500 to get the parcel delivered.
The victim transferred to an account given by Sharma. In the same way, the woman asked to deposit Rs 1,69,000 and Rs 3,60,000, and the victim transferred a total of Rs 5,64,500. Following that, the woman demanded Rs 7,15,820 in taxes. However, the victim showed an inability to send more money.
Even after paying over Rs 5 lakh, the woman kept giving a new date for the parcel to be delivered, and finally, he realised that he was cheated and approached the police. Nerul police registered a case under sections 66 c and 66 d of the IT Act and started an investigation.
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