NRI' groom dupes Bengaluru woman of Rs 3 lakh

Bengaluru: A 29-year-old woman was conned by a man, who approached her through a matrimonial website posing as a potential groom. He told her that he was sending her a surprise gift and made her cough up Rs 2.85 lakh as GST to receive it from the US. 

The woman, who works in a private bank and a resident of Koramangala, had registered her profile with a matrimonial site. The accused, who had a profile in the same site as Muhammad Abdul, approached her.

He claimed to be living in New Jersey, US. The duo started talking to each other and exchanged messages from August. 

“In August, he called her saying that he would send a surprise gift from New Jersey and took her residential address. In October, a woman, who identified herself as an employee of a courier agency, called the complainant saying that they have received a parcel worth of $18,000 (Rs 11.64 lakh) and it has got stuck in customs office for which she has to pay the 18% GST. The victim transferred Rs 2.85 lakh to the account number given by the caller. Again she was asked to pay the remaining Rs 2.11 lakh as custom tax. The woman felt suspicious and tried to contact Abdul and the courier agency, but Abdul's profile was deactivated while the mobile number of the woman, who claimed to be from the courier agency, was switched off. Realising that she was cheated, she filed a complaint," an officer  said. The Koramangala police are trying to trace the accused.