PANCHKULA: A 37-year-old woman from Panchkula was allegedly duped of Rs 13 lakh by a person she met on Facebook, who claimed to be from UK and two others. The accused claimed that he had sent her 30,000 pounds (around Rs 29 lakh) as a gift. Later, a person who claimed to be a customs official demanded a “fee” to get the parcel “released.”
In her police complaint, the woman, a resident of Sector 20, said she received a message from an online friend who called himself David Benjamin and said that he is a marine engineer from London. On November 3, he told her that he had sent her a courier of 30,000 pounds with Citi Link courier, Finland.
Soon after, she received a WhatsApp call from a woman who introduced herself as Anita Bhatnagar, an official from the customs department. The woman demanded “custom charges” and provided a bank account number in which the money was to be deposited.
Thereafter, another person who identified himself as Reddy called and demanded some other charges/fees. In multiple transactions, the victim deposited Rs 13 lakh in the bank account of the accused but she did not receive the parcel.
She filed a complaint and a case was registered under Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any document or electronic record), 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the IPC at Sector 20 police station. Further investigations are on.
Police said, “We are working with cyber cell officials to work on the case. Investigation is in progress.”