Online fraudster, posing as UK medic, cheats woman of Rs 2 lakh

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru,Feb 02, 2018 : A 33-year-old hospital administration executive has become the latest in the long list of victims of online fraud.

 

Shrilatha (name changed) lost nearly Rs 2 lakh to a conman, claiming to be an NRI pediatrician from London, whom she met on the Bharat Matrimony portal and fell for his proposal to marry her.

The woman was surprised when Dr Stanislaus Lobo, a doctor from the UK, expressed interest in her profile on the matrimonial site. The two exchanged telephone numbers and began talking.

Lobo told Shrilatha that his parents were doctors and hailed from Mangaluru. Having lost both at a young age, he was raised by an uncle and aunt. He also claimed that he wanted to marry an Indian on account of his Mangaluru connections. Shrilatha believed she met the right man and shared details about her family, too.

Lobo got intimate and told Shrilatha he was coming to India soon to fix their wedding. Before that, he said he would send her a packet of pen drives, containing his family album and pictures of his childhood, along with a few gifts.

The con begins

In the last week of December, Lobo told Shrilatha that a packet has been despatched, containing vanity bags, designer perfumes, diamond-studded watches and an iPhone, besides the pen drives. He sent her pictures of these items on WhatsApp, saying it would be delivered before their wedding on January 7.

Two days later, a woman claiming to be an employee of Trustway Couriers called Shrilatha and asked her to pay Rs 36,000 as goods tax for the gifts sent to her. When she informed Lobo about it, he said the packet also contained 10,000 pounds, which he sent so that the extra expenses would not burden Shrilatha or her family.

She then transferred the tax amount to the bank account sent by the woman from Trustway Couriers.

Booking confirmed

A few days later, Lobo sent a screenshot of the online booking confirmation of a Bengaluru hotel for his stay from January 15 to February 1. "I even called up the Novotel Hotel in Marathahalli to check if a doctor from London had made a booking, and they confirmed it," Shrilatha told DH.

The same woman from the courier company called Shrilatha a second time with a request to transfer Rs 61,000 as insurance money for the 10,000 pounds in the packet. Shrilatha did as she was told since she already knew from Lobo that the packet contained the money.

Shrilatha received a third call from the woman, asking her to pay Rs 86,000 as tax for foreign exchange conversion. When Shrilatha called Lobo, he told her to pay the "small" amount as she would have nearly Rs 9 lakh after the conversion.

Shrilatha grew suspicious when the courier woman and Lobo called separately for one more payment of Rs 65,000 to get clearance that the gift wasn’t part of terrorism activities. She told them she no longer needed the gifts, and lodged a complaint with the cyber crime police.


couresy:DHNS