BENGALURU: Despite all the warnings the police has been spreading about the dangers of befriending strangers online, their advice seems to have been going unheeded. The latest victim is a 23-year-old woman, who accepted a stranger’s friend request and ended up losing gold jewellery worth Rs 2.2 lakh to him.
Ashwini V, a homemaker residing in Rajarajeshwarinagar, filed a complaint with the Jayanagar police against Vinod alias Manjunath, a resident of JP Nagar Sixth Phase.
According to the complainant, she received a friend request on Facebook from Vinod on June 1. Although she didn’t know anyone by that name, she accepted the request and within 10 days, they had even exchanged numbers.
One day, Vinod called Ashwini and told her he was in dire need of money as his sister had some financial problems. Ashwini gave him Rs 4,500. A couple of days later, he called her again and told her that he needed money again as his mother was suffering from a cardiac problem and needed to have surgery. When Ashwini told him she did not have that much money, he asked her for her gold jewellery. Ashwini agreed and gave Vinod her two gold chains, a bracelet, three rings and a pair of earrings all together worth more than Rs 2.2 lakh.
After getting the jewelery, Vinod started to avoid Ashwini. When she tried contacting him, he did not respond. Ashwini found that not only was Vinod’s mother not a cardiac patient, but also that Vinod had another named called Manjunath. An investigating officer said, “We have taken up the case of cheating and launched a manhunt.”