Instagram becomes new platform for cyber fraud
Bengaluru: After instances of women being cheated by Facebook ‘friends’, online frauds seem to be targeting women Instagram account holders. Recently, a 46-year-old woman lost Rs 10.9 lakh, and in another case, a 27-year-old woman lost Rs 40,000 and other documents to online frauds. After making women believe that their gifts are being sent through courier, they pose as custom officials, seizing the gifts and take additional money via online transfer for ‘releasing’ the same.
Pratibha Jain (46), a resident of Khamaraj Road in Bharathi Nagar, lodged a complaint to Halasur police, saying she was conned of Rs 10.9 lakh by one Daniel. She got a follow request in Instagram from Daniel in November. She accepted his request and the duo started messaging often. They both exchanged mobile numbers and later started chatting in WhatsApp. Daniel told her that he is sending her some gifts from London. To make her believe, he sent photos of the gift and receipt of courier from Direct Express Delivery company.
After that, she got calls from different numbers. The caller also introduced himself as Daniel, but this time as a customs official at Indira Gandhi International Airport and told Prathiba that in order to release her courier, she needs to pay Rs 55,000 as custom charges. Prathiba believed him and transferred the money through her account, to which the miscreant sent her a receipt.
Next day, he again called her and told her that the parcel was worth 62,000 pounds (About Rs 60 lakhs), to which she needs to pay Rs 2.25 lakh. She again transferred the money from her husband’s account. Next day, he called her again and said the gifts have 17 kg of gold jewellery and asked her to pay Rs 5.5 lakh to get them delivered to her house. From November 25 to December 4, Prathiba ended up paying him Rs 10.9 lakh to five different bank accounts.
When Daniel asked her to pay Rs 12 lakh more, she suspected something fishy and brought the incident to the notice of her family members. When she refused to pay more money and tried to ask him to return her money, he refused. On December 12, she lodged a complaint.
In another similar case, a 27-year-old teacher, Supriya of Hongasandra, fell prey to the frauds. In her complaint with Bommanahalli police, she said that she received a request on Instagram from a man who introduced himself as Darlington from London. He offered her costly gifts and said that he will courier them. On November 22, she received a call from a person named Prince, who posed to be a customs official of Delhi airport.
He asked her to pay Rs 35,000 to get the courier delivered. Her friend, Nirmal Singh took her to a gold finance firm where she pledged her gold and transferred the money to him on November 24. On the same evening, she was asked to pay Rs 1.5 lakh more. Singh transferred the money to Supriya’s account, who later paid the miscreant. On November 26, she was asked to pay Rs 3.2 lakh more, saying that the gifts were worth Rs 40 lakh.
Supriya refused to pay as she didn’t have money, but Singh told her that she will get the gifts from New Delhi during Dasara holidays and took Rs 5,000 for travelling expenses. On a note of suspicion, she blocked all her social media accounts. On November 28, Singh asked Supriya to return her money and forcibly took her debit card, cheque book, marks cards as surety and threatened with dire consequences. Supriya lodged complaint on December 12, both cases are under investigation.
