MUMBAI: A 65-year-old woman from Mumbai has fallen victim to a complex cyber fraud, losing Rs. 1.30 crore to scammers who pretended to be officials from various organizations, including the Customs Department and the Reserve Bank of India.

The woman, who lived in the Chandivali area of Powai until June 2024 before relocating to Byculla, reported her experience to the police. Her troubles began in April 2023 when she met a man named Paul Rutherford on an international dating app. Rutherford claimed to be an American civil engineer in the Philippines and fabricated a story about a fatal accident at his construction site, stating that he needed money to avoid deportation to the U.S.

Moved by his plight, the woman sent nearly Rs. 70 lakh in Bitcoin, even borrowing money from relatives with promises of quick repayment. In June, Rutherford informed her that he had sent a parcel containing 2 million US dollars. Shortly after, she received a call from a woman identifying herself as Priya Sharma, who claimed to work at the Delhi airport. Sharma told the victim that the parcel had been stopped by Customs and instructed her to pay various fees and taxes to release it, directing her to transfer money to several bank accounts.

From June 2023 to March 2024, the woman complied, making multiple deposits. According to a police officer involved in the case, the fraud escalated further. The scammers then posed as representatives from Bank of America, claiming they had received the funds released by Customs and had sent her an ATM card. Following this, she received calls from individuals pretending to be officials from the International Monetary Fund and the Reserve Bank of India, who requested additional deposits to facilitate an exchange of dollars for Indian currency, amounting to Rs. 17 crore.

Despite transferring a total of Rs. 1,29,43,661, the continuous calls from these supposed authorities eventually raised her suspicions. Realizing she had been scammed, she sought assistance from the cyber police. An FIR was filed at the West Region Cyber Police station, based on her previous address in Chandivali, invoking relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.

The police have launched an investigation, but so far, they have not identified any leads to catch the fraudsters behind this intricate scheme.

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