A 42-year-old woman was cheated of Rs 6.25 lakh by a cyber fraudster who posed as an Indian Navy captain on a Marathi matrimonial website.
The complainant told the police that she ended up sending all her savings and even mortgaged her mother and sister’s gold ornaments to pay the accused. An FIR was registered on Saturday at the Charkop police station in relation to the matter.
The complainant told the police that she had made a profile on the Sangam matrimonial website in March this year and since then has been receiving messages with suggestions for suitable grooms.
She responded to one such message where she received an interest from the fraudster, who had created a fake profile with a fictitious name Alex Patel. He told the woman that he is a captain in the Indian Navy.
The complainant told him that she was from a poor family and could not speak in English. However, the fraudster had told her that he was in love with her and after chatting for a week, he said he had sent expensive gifts which she would soon receive by courier.
Days later, the fraudster’s aide contacted her on WhatsApp, saying he is from the courier company and that she will have to pay the processing fees to get the gifts delivered. After the woman paid the fees, the fraudster told her that the gift contained 30,000 dollars as well as a lot of jewellery and hence more money would have to be paid. She then communicated with Alex who convinced her to pay the money. The woman ended paying Rs 6.25 lakh and later realized that she had been duped.