BENGALURU: A 36-year-old woman software engineer from Kerala lost nearly Rs 35 lakh to accept a supposed currency parcel of Rs 75 lakh. The main accused trapped the victim through social media by sending her pictures of the parcel. Unsuspecting of the criminal plot, the victim borrowed money from her relatives and friends and kept sending it to the accounts of the accused.
Though she was cheated two years ago, the techie approached the city police and filed a complaint only last month. The police traced the gang to Uttam Nagar in New Delhi, where fraudsters from African countries stay. Investigators have managed to freeze two accounts of the accused with deposits of Rs 4.5 lakh.
Strangely, the victim, without approaching the police, had shared the details on social media. The police are left with no clues, except for details of account holders in Delhi as details of call records and IP logs are available for a maximum of one year after which they are deleted. Since the incident occurred two years ago, the police are unable to lay hands on any electronic evidence and are now hoping that the accused are arrested in Delhi.
The victim, Reena (name changed), stays at HAL in the city. Of the 11 accused, five are women and the police say they may have used fake names while interacting with the victim. Reena claims to have come in contact with the main accused, identified as James Daniel, on Facebook. The other accused kept calling her to pay different fees to get the amount released, and the victim put money into 11 different bank accounts.
“Victims of cybercrimes should approach the police immediately. Delay in filing the case will hamper the investigation. The accused has also made the victim courier SIM cards purchased in her name and have used them to commit fraud,” said an officer, who is part of the investigation. The Whitefield CEN police registered a case under the IT Act, 2000 along with other sections of the Indian Penal Code.