Friend's gift from the US costs Malad woman Rs 4 lakh

MUMBAI: A 29-year-old Malad woman lost Rs 3.57 lakh in a 'gift fraud' to a man who befriending her on social media by introducing himself as a US citizen recently.
The accused lured the woman, A Amulya, by telling her that he had sent a gift from the US and shared the consignment tracking receipt to her via WhatsApp.
It started in March when Amulya got a friend request from one Jacobz Arsenio on social media. The police are now tracking bank details of two Indians - Pranshu Gupta and Harjeet Singh - to whose account Amulya transferred money sought as taxes to claim the gift containing a huge sum of US dollar, said an officer of Kurar police station.
Last week, the US friend informed Amulya he was sending the gift to her office address. Subsequently, she got calls fro people asking her to pay various amounts for different taxes to claim the US dollars in the parcel. She later realised she had been duped.
In all, 17 cases of gift fraud or customs fraud have been registered in Mumbai this year till March.