Befriending a stranger on Facebook has cost a woman from Byculla more than Rs 10 lakh
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Befriending a stranger on Facebook has cost a woman from Byculla more than Rs 10 lakh. According to cops, in January, the woman, a doctor's wife, received a friend request on her Facebook account from someone called Devid Mark. She accepted the request and, after a few weeks, they began chatting on WhatsApp as well. Mark introduced himself as an employee of BMW and said he stayed in the United Kingdom.
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Sources said, "Mark came to know about her birth date through her Facebook account and then said he wanted to send her a gift. He said he was sending her an iPhone, three designer handbags, jewellery and 50 thousand pounds for a party. He even sent her photos of the gifts and took her address."
The next day, Mark told her that he had dispatched her gifts. On January 22, she got a call from a woman who identified herself as Neha from the Customs department. She told the woman there was a gift for her from UK and that she would have to pay Rs 30,000 as Customs duty. The woman promptly paid the amount through her bank account. The next day, Neha called again and said she found cash, which is illegal and that a fine amount of Rs 95,999 would have to be paid. She again called some time later and said the fine amount was Rs 1,72,000. The woman told Neha she did not have that much money, so Neha transferred the call to a 'senior' who identified himself as George who told her that as the money was illegal. The woman then transferred the amount.
On January 24, George called and said the Anti Terrorism Squad had got involved and she would have to pay Rs 1,09,000 and then called again on January 26 and got her to pay Rs 2,59,000 against bank deposit fees. On January 30 he told her the ATS wanted to interrogate her family and she would have to pay Rs 3,40,000 to avoid this. She finally realised she was being cheated when George said she would have to pay income tax of Rs 7,59,000. She immediately told her husband about the con.
An officer said, "After her complaint we lodge an FIR under the IPC and the Information Technology Act."
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