Mangaluru: A woman residing at Derebail Landlinks township, was swindled out of Rs. 34lakh through Facebook over a month’s time. In a complaint filed in Kavoor police station here, a person who introduced himself to be a resident of a foreign country on Facebook earned her trust and cheated her of Rs 34lakh.
As per the complaint details provided by the woman, a man who claimed himself as John Paul, had become familiar with Reshma M Rao (44), the complainant, on Facebook and had come to trust each other over last three months time. After coming to know that Reshma’s husband was working abroad, John said he would send seven crore rupees for purchasing sites in India. He informed her that an amount of Rs 34 lk would be required to meet tax and other expenses related to fund transfer.
Lured by the offer of seven crore rupees, Reshma transferred money through online transfer. For this, he had opened a point of banking through Standard Chartered Bank and Rs 34 lakh was transferred through different transactions in the name of different persons.
John had provided email and account details of a person named James Biden working in the US bank, asking her to conduct correspondence with this person. Once the amount was deposited, John Paul, who claimed himself to be staying in USA and England on different occasions, stopped contacting her. The expected seven crore rupees also did not come, after which she got to know that she had been taken for a ride.