Woman duped of Rs 12 lakh by ‘US doctor’ on matrimony site in Pune

PUNE: A 40-year-old woman from Wakad was cheated of Rs 12 lakh by a crook, who posed as a ‘US-based surgeon’ on a matrimonial site.

The incident occurred between October last year and January this year. The woman lodged an FIR on Wednesday.

Inspector Santosh Patil said the suspect contacted her through the website in October and introduced himself as Arjun Gopal, a cosmetic surgeon from the US. “The duo started calling and texting each other. The suspect soon proposed to her,” Patil said.

In November, the suspect called the complainant and told her his mother suffered head injuries in an accident. “He asked her to pay for a shipment of herbal seeds, which he claimed to be importing from Bengaluru. She immediately transferred Rs1.3 lakh to a bank account in Bengaluru,” Patil said.

Patil said the suspect then offered to make the woman a partner in the seeds business and also convinced her to bring her father on board. “He sent seeds to the woman via courier and took around Rs6.5 lakh from her,” Patil said.

A few days later, the suspect told the woman he would be visiting India with the company’s purchase manager. He first claimed he was detained at the airport and asked her for money. He then sought more money to pay a fine over seized US dollars. In all, till the first week of January, the woman and her father transferred Rs12 lakh to the suspect.