Man loses 7 lakh rupees, after getting in male escort job racket

Online scams have been on a high in the state of Gujarat and it does not seem to have been decreasing by any means.

When 30-year-old Kalpesh Patel (name changed) was offered a chance not just to date, meet, have physical relationships with women but also earn money for these activities, he could not believe his luck.

However, when he lost Rs 7 lakh without getting the opportunity to meet even one woman, he realized he had been thoroughly duped.

The New Ranip resident approached the cyber crime cell and filed a complaint against the accused. A team led by inspector M H Puwar apprehended Akash Lalwani, 21, and Jaimika Patel, 32, both residents of Vadodara, in connection with the case.

The duo were caught with multiple financial documents, SIM cards and mobile phones.

Patel told police that he got in touch with one Priyanka Patel through social media in March. After a few exchanges on chat, Priyanka claimed that she ran an escort company that had very high-profile women as clients. She said he could earn lakhs if was ready to date, meet and develop physical relationship with these women.

“Patel agreed and, in a matter of three months, the accused got him to shell out Rs 7 lakh on one or the other pretext. After being unable to meet even one woman after forking over so much money, Patel got disillusioned and finally approached the police.

He has a monthly salary of Rs 15,000, and had lost the money he had got from his mother,” said a city cyber cell official.

Puwar said, “We request citizens to approach the cyber cell if they have been duped using a similar modus operandi. They may have got the offer from social media profiles in the name of some other girl. The victims often do not approach police if the amount involved is not very big or if they do not want their family to know about the fraud.”