Mumbai woman duped of Rs36 lakh by two men she befriended on social media website

  A 49-year-old woman from Marine Drive was cheated to the tune of Rs36 lakh by two people she had befriended on a social media website.

According to the LT Marg police, Sandra D’souza, who is a resident of Chandanwadi lane in Marine Drive, had got a friend request from one of the accused. After she accepted the request, they began chatting and became friends. The accused then told the woman that he and his friend needed to transfer some money to Mumbai for business but were stuck because he was unable to transfer the amount online. 

The accused (whose name was not disclosed by the police) told D’souza that she could help him transfer the amount. The woman agreed after the accused promised her to return the money within 24 hours. He told her that he had to send the money to many people. The woman then transferred Rs35 lakh to the accused’s account. A day later, when she tried asking him for her money, the accused disappeared from the website. She then approached the LT Marg police and registered a case of cheating. 

“We have registered a case under sections 420 of the IPC and sections of the IT act. We are now in the process of tracing the accused,” said Sharad Naik, senior police inspector of LT Marg police station.

The police officers said that it is possible that the accused was chatting with the victim through a fake ID and the account number given to the victim did not belong to the accused. “We have asked the cyber cell to trace the IP address of the social media account through which the accused had sent D’souza a friend request,” said an officer from the LT Marg police station.