A 32-year-old woman, who thought she had found a match for herself on a matrimonial website, was robbed of her money by the ‘UK native’ she had been chatting with for over a month. The woman ended up spending Rs 4.65 lakh of her retired father’s savings and realised she was dealing with a fraudster when the would-be ‘groom’ demanded Rs 8 lakh to pay a ‘government fee’.
The woman, a divorcee who stays along with her 12-year-old daughter and father in Mumbai’s central suburbs, had set up a profile for herself on a famous matrimonial website. A man approached her on a messaging app identifying himself as one Henry Richardson who came from a ‘well-to-do’ family in the UK, said a police officer. The two got talking over different messengersA month later, the two decided to tie the knot. The woman was in California when the accused told her he was coming to Mumbai.
He also sent her photographs of his flight tickets, which the police suspect were “photoshopped”. The woman then cut short her trip and came back to the city.On the day of his arrival, the woman got a call from ‘Delhi customs’ asking her to pay a fee for some gifts one Henry Richardson was carrying for her. “Then began the modus operandi used in ‘Nigerian fraud’ whereby the woman kept getting calls asking her to pay money for one fee or the other.
In all, she loaned Rs 4.6 lakh from her father,” said an officer from the BKC Cyber police station, the nodal unit for probing cyber crime cases in the city.When the accused finally called up seeking Rs 8 lakh more for another fee, the woman grew suspicions. She flew down to Delhi and approached the customs department. Officials in the department said they had faced similar queries several times before. They told her that they did not — “and by procedure do not” — make such calls asking for money.
Following this, the woman returned to Mumbai. ‘Henry’ had stopped responding to her messages by now.She approached the police, following which and an FIR was registered at the BKC Cyber police station on Monday on charges of cheating a person using a communication device. An officer said this was a “textbook case” of such fraud.
“Accused go through online matrimonial portals and scout for widows and divorcees. They then approach them on other messaging platforms and present themselves as eligible bachelors located abroad,” said the officer. The Mumbai Police had busted a similar racket two months ago where the accused pretending to be from the UK were operating out of a flat in Mira Road locality.
