Mumbai Woman Gets Conned Out Of 4 Lakh After She Befriended A Stranger On Instagram

I was 15 when I first joined social media. At the time, a social networking platform called Hi5 was all the rage. My parents were extremely skeptical about this. They kept telling me to only befriend people I knew. Obviously, my teenage brain didn’t take them seriously. And it wasn’t until much later that I realised how dangerous it is to connect with strangers, especially as a woman. Incidents of fraud, blackmail and things that are way more sinister have been frequently reported. The most recent incident occurred with a girl from Mumbai. She lost a little over 4 lakh to a con artist who befriended her on social media.

It all started when a person pretending to be a UK citizen sent the victim a request on Instagram. She accepted and soon they began chatting. They also exchanged numbers. She had no reason to suspect him considering he was using an international number. Reportedly, on 27 June, the fraudster told this girl that he had sent her a few gifts through cargo shipping. He sent her pictures of the gifts and even sent her a link so she could track the delivery. And thus began the con.

How an Instagram ‘friend’ from UK promised a woman costly gifts, duped her of Rs 4.29 lakh https://t.co/Rn54kVNoj5

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) August 4, 2021

Also Read: Dropout Who Seduced 300 Women For Extortion Held

Two days later, on 29th June, the woman received a phone call from a man who claimed to be from the customs office. He told her that her parcel contained a lot of cash and she would have to pay a fine in order to procure an “anti-money laundering certificate”. Unaware that she was being baited, the victim paid 4.29 lakh. But it didn’t end there. The fraudsters tried their hand at getting even more money from this woman.

The next day, a woman impersonating an income tax officer demanded Rs 5.69 lakh as taxes on the parcel. This spooked the woman and she refused to pay. She asked the woman to prove her identity. The fraudster then cut the call and the woman realised that she had been conned. She went to Andheri Police Station and filed an FIR.

We have to be extremely careful about adding strangers on social media. These kind of incidents are coming to light very frequently.

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