MUMBAI: A cyber fraudster, posing as a candidate seeking a bride on a matrimonial website, created a fake profile, falsely claiming to be an aeronautical engineer.
Fabricating a story about airline troubles, he made a 28-year-old Chembur woman believe that his bank account was frozen.
Emotionally blackmailing her, he took over Rs 13 lakh from her, before disappearing.The RCF police have registered a cheating case and the cyber police are conducting a parallel investigation.
The woman works in a private firm.The woman's father made her profile in March.
In July, she received a response from a person calling himself Sarjirao Patil.
They exchanged numbers and began chatting.
Patil told her his father ran a shipping business, and his mother was a retired banker.
He arranged for her to speak with a man claiming to be his father, assuring a visit in August.
The woman's family prepared to welcome them, but the Patil family failed to show up.
The woman followed up with eight to ten calls, all of which went unanswered.
The next day, when she messaged Patil, he explained the absence citing job and salary issues."He claimed that due to an alleged fraud in the airline that employed him, his bank accounts were frozen.
He mentioned sending his car to the garage without the means to cover expenses.
Seeking her assistance, he promised to repay her once his account was unfrozen.
Believing him, she transferred over Rs 2.3 lakh online," said a police officer.A few days later, Patil expressed a desire to repay her and requested her bank details and password.
When questioned about the necessity, he claimed his account was under surveillance, and he needed all her account details to make a transfer.
She provided the details, and within a few hours, Rs 1.8 lakh was transferred from her account to other accounts.
When the woman inquired about the transaction, Patil assured her of repayment soon.
The woman then left for Ireland to meet her sister.
Knowing this, Patil transferred over Rs 3.9 lakh out of her account; this was in August.The total fraudulent transfers amounted to nearly Rs 9.4 lakh.
On November 22, the woman was alarmed to receive calls and messages from a non-banking financial institution regarding an EMI.
They informed her that a loan of over Rs 3.7 lakh had been taken in her name, and the necessary documents had been submitted.
Attempting to contact Patil for clarification, she discovered that his number was switched off.
It is then that she approached the police.