Cyber fraudsters allegedly cheated a 24-year-old Pune-based software engineer of Rs 11.5 lakh by offering to send her gold and diamond jewellery purchased from Poland.
According to the police, around the second week of January, the victim connected with the Instagram account, claiming to be that of an Indian settled in the US. She started chatting and talking with the man and soon took the communication to WhatsApp.
The man told her that he had purchased gold and diamond jewellery from Poland and sent her the consignment comprising the ornaments and cash in foreign currency. He asked her to complete the process of customs clearance.
Over the next few days, the complainant received multiple calls from people posing as officials involved in customs clearance. They sought online money transfers of large amounts from her on pretexts like customs duty, high court fees, money laundering check charges, police verification, transfer charges, insurance, and stamp charges, and she obliged. The complainant later approached the police after realising that she had been cheated.
The police invoked the Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to cheating and impersonation, along with Information Technology Act sections, in the case registered at the Wakad police station Tuesday.
“We have launched a probe into various phone numbers, email addresses, social media accounts and bank accounts used by the suspects to cheat the complainant.” said an officer from Wakad police station.