Mumbai: Matrimonial websites continue to be fertile breeding ground for cyber crooks looking to dupe prospective brides and grooms. In the latest case, a 32-year-old woman (name withheld to protect identity) from Bhayandar was swindled by a fraudster whom she met on a popular matrimonial website.
In her police complaint, the aspiring bride said that after completing the registration process, she uploaded her detailed profile along with contact numbers on the portal last month. A few days later, she got a request from a person who identified himself as a resident of England, Rahul Mark. Soon, the two exchanged mobile numbers and even began chatting on instant messaging apps. Claiming to be a marine engineer, Mark proposed marriage to the woman and expressed a desire to send some expensive gifts to her.
Despite her reluctance, the complainant soon received a call from a woman claiming to be an employee of the courier firm, informing her about the arrival of a gift-wrapped laptop bearing a price tag of UK Pounds 40,000 (approx. Rs 40 lakh). The woman asked the complainant to pay charges to obtain her gift. The complainant paid a total Rs 1.65 lakh through multiple bank transfers. Later, when more money was demanded, the complainant grew suspicious and registered a complaint at the local police station. A case under section 420 of the IPC and section 66 (c) of the Information and Technology Act, 2000 was registered against the fraudster Wednesday.
While investigation into the case is underway, the Thane (rural) police has appealed people to be extremely cautious before getting into any kind of financial transactions with strangers.
