‘Friend’ from matrimonial site dupes unemployed Mumbai woman of Rs 2.45 lakh

A 38-year-old woman from Andheri was duped of Rs 2.45 lakh by a man, who she met on a matrimonial website in May. The woman, an employee with a leading airlines since 2015, had recently lost her job.

According to the Powai police, the man, who claimed to be from US, told her that while he was travelling to India to meet her, his ship was chased by Somalian pirates. To avoid getting robbed, he had sent his valuables through a private security firm and asked her to collect it. Later, she was asked to deposit money – amounting to Rs 2.45 lakh – in different bank accounts under the pretext of clearing cargo.

The woman realised that she was conned and filed a complaint with the Powai police station.

“We have registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology (IT) Act for cheating and impersonation. We will be seeking details of the person from the matrimonial site and also details of the beneficiary accounts from the banks,” said an officer from Powai police station, on condition of anonymity.

The police said the complainant’s mother had created her daughter’s profile on the matrimonial website in 2017. In May this year, the woman received a message from the website saying that a person named Karunakar Reddy had liked her profile. The two exchanged numbers and began talking.

Police said the accused claimed that he was a Telugu NRI based in the US and was originally from Visakhapatnam. He told her that he was a structural engineer with a private firm, was well-to-do, and planned to shift to India permanently. “He promised to marry the woman once he would reach India on June 7,” the police officer said.

However, on June 2, the complainant received an email from the accused’s mother who claimed that while her son (Reddy) was travelling to India with all his money, valuables, documents and belongings, a Somalian pirates’ group had chased his ship. In order to avoid passengers from being robbed, the captain had diverted the ship to an island nearby and taken the help of a private security company to send the passengers’ belongings to their families.

The complainant shared her residential address to an email id that the accused’s mother had given her, claiming it to be the security firm’s email. The woman even received a receipt in Reddy’s name, the police said.

Later, a man named Thomson, called the complainant and claimed to be from the security firm. He told the woman that Reddy’s parcel had huge amounts of foreign currency and extracted money from her under the pretext of custom duties, penalty etc.

A police officer said that during this time, Reddy kept in touch with her and convinced her to make the payments. Later, when Thomson demanded more money, she realised that she was being duped, and filed a complaint with the Powai police station. However, she had already sent Rs 2.45 lakh to the accused, police said.

“Prima facie appears to be part of a Nigerian racket. They generally cheat people by claiming to have sent some valuables, gifts which are stuck at the airport customs and demand money to clear it by posing as custom officials,” another police officer said.

First Published:
Jul 23, 2019 13:19 IST

Source: Read Full Article