CHANDIGARH: A law student was duped of Rs 2.34 lakh in June on the pretext of releasing a gift from a courier company which was sent to him by a woman from US whom he had befriended on Facebook. The UT police cyber cell is investigating the matter. No arrest has been made in the case.
Hemraj, a 25-year-old resident of Behlana village, reported that he was studying law from a private university of Rajasthan and doing a private business from the city. He said that he had received a Facebook friend request from a woman named James Maria, a resident of US, on June 24, 2019. He accepted her request and soon, they started chatting on WhatsApp. While chatting, the woman allegedly said that she wanted to send him a gift and asked for his address. Hemraj shared his address and the woman sent him a picture of the parcel gift and also shared the courier receipt.
Hemraj said that he then got a call from Alkita, an employee of Skynet worldwide courier services on June 28. She told him that a parcel had been received on his name and to claim the parcel, he had to pay Rs 35,000 as custom duty. Alkita provided a bank account number to Hemraj and told him to transfer the amount.
After he deposited the amount, he again received a call from Alkita saying that the courier company had found foreign currency in the parcel during the scanning and he had to pay a penalty charge of Rs 1.99 lakh for it. She gave him a different account number to deposit the amount. After he deposited the amount, she again called him and demanded Rs 3.87 lakh as income tax to release the parcel.
Hemraj realized that he had been cheated and filed a complaint at the SSP public window. His complaint was transferred to the cyber cell. After verifying the facts, police have registered a case and initiated the probe. Cops have been scrutinizing the accounts in which the money was transferred by the complainant.
Hemraj, a 25-year-old resident of Behlana village, reported that he was studying law from a private university of Rajasthan and doing a private business from the city. He said that he had received a Facebook friend request from a woman named James Maria, a resident of US, on June 24, 2019. He accepted her request and soon, they started chatting on WhatsApp. While chatting, the woman allegedly said that she wanted to send him a gift and asked for his address. Hemraj shared his address and the woman sent him a picture of the parcel gift and also shared the courier receipt.
Hemraj said that he then got a call from Alkita, an employee of Skynet worldwide courier services on June 28. She told him that a parcel had been received on his name and to claim the parcel, he had to pay Rs 35,000 as custom duty. Alkita provided a bank account number to Hemraj and told him to transfer the amount.
After he deposited the amount, he again received a call from Alkita saying that the courier company had found foreign currency in the parcel during the scanning and he had to pay a penalty charge of Rs 1.99 lakh for it. She gave him a different account number to deposit the amount. After he deposited the amount, she again called him and demanded Rs 3.87 lakh as income tax to release the parcel.
Hemraj realized that he had been cheated and filed a complaint at the SSP public window. His complaint was transferred to the cyber cell. After verifying the facts, police have registered a case and initiated the probe. Cops have been scrutinizing the accounts in which the money was transferred by the complainant.
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