Mumbai: Virtual ‘brother’ promises Raksha Bandhan gift, dupes woman of Rs 8.20 lakh

An FIR was registered in the matter by the Dahisar police station on Friday last week. The complainant, who works as a sales executive, said she got a friend request on Instagram from the handle ‘doctor.kzamesjayden’ on August 1. She accepted the friend request on August 5 after which the two started chatting. The fraudster told her he was a surgeon in London and after chatting for a while, they exchanged phone numbers and started speaking on WhatsApp.

The fraudster addressed the complainant as his ‘sister’ on WhatsApp and started asking her about Raksha Bandhan. She explained to him that women tie Rakhi to their brothers on their wrists after which brothers give their sisters gifts. The fraudster then told her he wants to send her gifts as well but the complainant refused to accept any.

On August 14, he told her he has already sent gifts to her and they will reach India on August 15. He said she will have to pay Rs 20,000 as custom clearance. After paying the money she received a message that her gift parcel had landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

The woman sent the money to a bank account given by him and received a message on her WhatsApp number the next day, saying she has to pay another Rs 20,000 as conveyance charges and insurance. The woman paid this amount as well but another fraudster impersonating a courier agent said she will have to pay more as the gift contains cash.

The fraudsters kept demanding money, and until September 2 she paid Rs 8.20 lakh. When the fraudsters did not stop asking for more money, she realised she was being cheated and informed her brother who took her to the police station.