NAVI MUMBAI: A 42-year-old businessman from Kamothe lost nearly Rs 40 lakh after he befriended a 'foreigner' on Facebook in October 2019. Kamothe police on Tuesday registered an FIR against Ella Basil and fake Customs employee Sonia Gupta.
The victim accepted a friend request sent by Basil and started chatting with her in October 2018. She told him she wanted to tour India in November 2019. In December 2019, he got a call from Gupta, claiming to be from Mumbai airport Customs office. Gupta told him Basil had brought gold, laptop and mobiles and was unable to pay duty. Gupta told him to pay it on her behalf.
Gupta then told him Basil had a draft of Rs 1.80 crore in his name, for which he had to pay income tax.
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