NAVI MUMBAI: A 32-year-old engineer from Panvel was cheated of nearly Rs 57 lakh in a matrimonial and customs fraud.
The accused had promised her marriage after befriending her through a matrimonial website in March and then claimed to have sent her a parcel and his aide lured her into paying ‘custom duties’ to claim it.
As per the FIR, on March 25, the engineer, who works for a PSU, was searching for an alliance on the matrimonial site, and liked the profile of Advik Kumar. Later, both spoke over WhatsApp calls. Kumar claimed that he was an engineer and lived in the UK. The next day, he told her he was going to Canada for 15 days and on his return would marry the victim and permanently settle in India.
On March 27, Kumar sought her address to send his things to India. The next day, he sent the victim a courier company’s tracking code. When she tracked the parcel, she found that it had reached the Delhi airport’s cargo department.
On March 30, a woman, who posed as a staffer at Delhi airport’s cargo department, called the victim on her mobile phone and told her that Kumar’s parcel has arrived from the UK and that she needs to pay Rs 32,900 as import duty. The victim contacted Kumar, who told her to pay and he would repay her later. The woman aide gave the victim two bank account numbers and the latter transferred the payment online.
The next day, the woman aide told the victim that the parcel contains 95,000 and to claim it she would have to pay Rs 1,21,500 as GST. When she contacted Kumar, he told her that the UK pounds was gift for her.
Thereafter, till April, the victim was made to gradually transfer a total of Rs 56.6 lakh to different bank accounts under the pretext of payment for currency conversion charges, delivery charges, insurance and security room charges. The victim did not receive the parcel for two months, while Kumar and his aide went incommunicado. She lodged a complaint with Panvel city police on June 23. An FIR was registered on Tuesday.
