Police said that on April 8, the woman had received a friend request on her Facebook account from the accused who claimed to be a foreign national who went by the name Dr Dominic Gobel. (Image credit: Reuters) A 62-year-old woman from Pune has lodged an FIR with the police after allegedly being duped of Rs 4.42 lakh by a man she had befriended on Facebook.
The first information report (FIR) was registered at Chaturshringi police station on Sunday.
Police said that on April 8, the woman had received a friend request on her Facebook account from the accused who claimed to be a foreign national who went by the name Dr Dominic Gobel. The woman accepted his request and soon they shared contact numbers and started talking over WhatsApp. The accused then told the complainant that he had sent a gift to her for his birthday on April 24, police said.
On April 19, April 20 and April 22, the complainant received calls from a woman claiming to be Sangita Tiwari, an officer at the Customs Department in Delhi. This woman, police said, told the complainant that the gift parcel was in possession of the department and asked her to pay money towards various charges.
Following the woman’s instructions, the complainant transferred Rs 4,42,500 into different bank accounts through RTGS. When she did not receive any gifts, she decided to approach the cops and lodge a complaint, police said.
Police have booked the online fraudsters and their accomplices under sections 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other sections of the Information Technology Act.
Police inspector Vijaykumar Lambture is investigating the case.
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