A 66-year-old Army veteran was defrauded of an amount costing Rs 61 lakh by a woman after he connected with her on Facebook. He was manipulated by the woman into making a transfer of a large amount to perform bogus online tasks on a shopping website, falsely claiming the high returns on his investments.
Following the development, the Army ex-serviceman has filed an FIR at the cybercrime police station of Pune City police recently. The veteran who lives in Pune and retired from the Army Medical Corps was duped into making 18 transfers totalling Rs 61.33 lakh by online fraudsters between January and March this year, as per the Indian Express report.
The ex-army official received a friend request from the profile of a woman in the first week of January, who claimed that she hails from Patna and studied at a Patna-based medical college. Later, he accepted the friend request, and text messages on Facebook continued for a prolonged period, resulting in the woman developing trust in the complainant by claiming links to Pune city.
Promise Of High Returns
Days later, the Army ex-serviceman received a message from the woman informing him about the “Better investment opportunity”. Claiming that she was opening an account in his name, the woman took all his personal details.
She began by assigning him fake tasks, such as liking and sharing posts on a website, and gradually convinced him to transfer specific sums of money to various bank accounts.
To build trust, she sent him fake screenshots showing large profits from his supposed investments. For instance, after he transferred Rs 5,695 to one account, she sent an image indicating his profile had earned Rs 23,216 in profit.
As the scam progressed, the amounts she requested kept increasing. He ended up making 18 transfers to mule accounts based in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. By the end of March, he had transferred a total of Rs 61.33 lakh, believing he had earned crores in returns.
However, when he tried to withdraw the supposed profits, the woman disappeared. Realising he had been defrauded, the man filed a complaint with the police. An FIR has been registered, and an investigation is underway.
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