Woman conned of Rs 3.44 lakhs with Rs 37.43 lakh gift lure

BENGALURU: A 30-year-old woman has filed a case against two persons, including a woman, for conning her of Rs 3.44 lakh on the pretext of sending a cash gift worth Rs 37.43 lakh. The prime accused identified as Michael met her in December last year, later over phone conversations she was duped into transferring him and his friends the money.

In the first week of January, Michael and Jayanthi (complainant) kept in touch over the phone. Later, Taniya Gover, believed to be Michael’s friend, contacted Jayanthi. She was told that Michael sent a gift box to her with a parcel worth Rs 37.43 lakh. However, she was asked to pay a handling charge of Rs 28,500 to a specified bank account, to which Jayanthi obliged. A few days later, Taniya asked for money again, saying that it was required for clearance from custom officials. Believing this too, she transferred the money. Similarly, she transferred a total Rs 3.44 lakh on four different dates to multiple bank accounts, including that of Michael. She grew suspicious after the two of them stopped answering her phone calls, and lodged a complaint at Ashok Nagar police station.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused is from Nigeria and they had given fake names to Jayanthi. “There is an organised gang operating from North India and we have shared the details with Cyber Crime Police to track the movements of the accused,” the police officer added.