Two Mumbai women attempt suicide after being swindled by suitors

Duped of lakhs by their matrimonial suitors two heartbroken women attempted suicide in separate cases in Bhendi Bazaar and Kurla The modus operandi used by the culprit is exactly the same in both cases both women were approached by a suitor through matrimonial websites and were then asked to send their suitor money under the most outlandish pretexts In both cases the culprit is still in touch with the women telling them he misses themRepresentational pictureCase 138yearold Feroza Memonrsquos family was worried about her remaining single and so they created a profile for her on a matrimonial website never suspecting the grief it would bring her eventually driving her to attempt suicide at their Bhendi Bazaar residence three days agoWe made her profile in the first week of November Within a week or so a man named Hamja approached us and said he wished to marry my sister He and my sister started talking on a regular basis said Ferozarsquos brother Mohammad AshrafThe couple even made plans to get married in Mumbai The accused said he lived in the UK and would stop in Dubai to buy wedding clothes and jewellery for her before arriving hereThe accused asked for her size so he could buy things for her However on December 8 the accused called and said that he had missed his flight from Dubai to Mumbai and was going to take the next flight to Delhi said an officer from JJ Marg police stationThe next day December 9 Feroza got a call from a person called Ranjeeta who claimed she had arrested Hamja with Rs 7 crore and a lot of jewellery She demanded Rs 25000 in exchange for letting him go and Feroza agreed to pay the ransomHowever the demands kept increasing until Feroza mdash who owns a shop in Mumbra mdash had shelled out over Rs 3 lakhSenior Police Inspector Anil Madvi from JJ Marg police station said Ranjeeta kept calling and demanding money and the victim paid them Rs 310 lakh in three different transactions to different account numbersFinally realising something was amiss Feroza decided to take the drastic step of consuming poison but was stopped in time by her familyCase 2The story is much the same with 50yearold Irene Drsquosouza from Kurla who was cheated for a whopping Rs 82 lakh For the last eight months she had been in touch with a suitor who approached her on a matrimonial siteThen in April began the requests for money In April the accused claimed that the pirates had caught him and were demanding Rs 11 lakh as ransom said a close friend of IrenersquosThe accused gave her an account number to transfer the money to But the fraud didnrsquot end there He said the pirates had set him free and he was sending her a box with a lot of money and precious documentsHowever he told her that the cash and the papers in the box were invisible and would only appear after pouring a special liquidIrenersquos friend added For this the accused asked her to go to Mumbai where someone would approach her to sell the liquid She paid a lot of money just to buy that liquid Then after that more people came to demand money from her in the name of the accused claiming they were from some embassyAfter she lost her life savings earned by working as a maid abroad Irene planned to end her life last month and even wrote a suicide note that was discovered by her family before she could take the extreme step The BKC Cyber Cell is currently investigating her case and has traced the accusedrsquos last location at Mira RoadIn both cases the culprit claimed to be an engineer in the UK and both women continue to receive messages from their suitors saying he misses them Irene heard from the culprit as recently as Thursday while Feroza heard from the accused a few days agoIn both the cases unidentified accused have been booked under Sections 420 cheating and 34 common intention of the Indian Penal Code