Exporter loses Rs 59 lakh to herbal oil scam in Pune

PUNE: Fraudsters executed a three-pronged con, cheating a local export-import company of nearly Rs 60 lakh.
The incident happened between last August and December, while the complainant approached the police on Wednesday. The Warje Malwadi police have registered a case under IPC sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating), and relevant sections of the IT Act.

“Last August, the company received an email, purportedly from a company with presence in the US and the Netherlands,” senior inspector Prakash Khandekar, who is probing the case, said. “In the email, a woman asked them to procure Glyroforlia Herbal extract oil at 2,000 USD per litre,” he said.

The woman said she would in turn sell the oil for 3,000 USD. “She offered 50% of the profits to the complainant’s firm,” Khandekar said.

The complainant’s company agreed and ordered 1 litre from the Guwahati company. The US-based firm then increased its order. “In all, the firm transferred Rs34.87 lakh to the bank accounts of the Guwahati company,” Khandekar said.

A few days later, the firm cancelled the order. Even the Assamese company stopped responding.

“At this point, the US firm told the complainant that a man was willing to purchase 1,500 litres of oil and would make an advance payment in cash through his colleague,” Khandekar said.

On November 27, the “colleague” called the complainant, claiming he was caught by customs officials with a huge amount of foreign currency, and sought money to get himself released. “Between November 27 and December 13, the ‘colleague’ pocketed Rs24.32 lakh,” he said.