Man gets duped by fraudsters, case filed

Hyderabad: Fraudsters posing as a friend on a dating app and a Customs officer have duped a 31-year-old civil engineer from Balapur of ₹5 lakh. On the victim’s complaint, a case was registered by the Hyderabad Cyber Crime police on Monday.

The victim filed a complaint alleging that he connected with a person claiming to be Joseph, a UK citizen, on Grindr in early May. “After weeks of building trust through regular chats on Grindr and WhatsApp, Joseph said he was visiting India at the end of May,” the victim told police.

On May 29, the complainant received messages from Joseph claiming he was detained at Mumbai airport for carrying $150,000 in cash. Shortly after that, another fraudster, posing as a Customs officer, contacted the victim, asking for immediate payments towards clearance fees, anti-money laundering charges and legal costs to let Joseph leave the airport with the US dollars.

“Due to emotional pressure and reassurance by Joseph of reimbursement, I transferred money to multiple bank accounts between May 29 and June 5. As Joseph and the Customs officer kept asking for more money instead of providing proof of Joseph getting released from detention or talking about returning the amount, I realised that it was a fraud,” the victim said.

As he stopped paying money, the victim received threats from an unknown number on June 8, warning of leaking his private photographs on social media if he did not pay more money.

The victim approached police on Monday, and a case was booked under Sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act and Sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).