Mumbai: 29-year-old airhostess duped of Rs 3.5 lakh on social media

“We chatted for a while and I felt that the guy was genuine. He claimed to be from Poland and introduced himself as a marine engineer,” said the complainant in her statement to police. She also shared her phone number with him.

Realising she had been duped by the two, the victim approached the VP Road police station. (Representational Image)

A 29-year-old air hostess, employed with a leading airline, approached the Mumbai Police after she had been allegedly defrauded of Rs 3.5 lakh. The suspected fraudsters allegedly approached the woman on a social networking site, and lured her with the promise of a gift and cash. According to police officials, the airhostess had first received a friend request in 2014 from a Facebook account in the name of Alexander Lukas. Initially, she accepted the request but later she had unfriended him, said police.

The woman again got a friend request from the same person on June 10 this year, and this time she accepted and also had a chat with him on messenger. “We chatted for a while and I felt that the guy was genuine. He claimed to be from Poland and introduced himself as a marine engineer,” said the complainant in her statement to police. She also shared her phone number with him.

Later the duo started talking more frequently, following which the alleged fraudster claimed he had purchased a watch, shoes, purse and a necklace for the woman. “Lukas sent her a photograph of a box. He claimed that he had packed the valuables in this box and couriered the same to her address,” said a police official from the VP Road police station, where a case had been registered.

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On June 20, a woman posing as an official from the courier company called the victim and asked her to pay clearance charges.
In the complaint, the victim said the woman named Nitika had claimed she would have to pay Rs 65,000 in order to clear the gift. She deposited this sum in the account of a woman named Alizabeth Lalwama and then contacted Nikita asking her to release the parcel. Nikita then claimed they had found US $80,000 in the box, for which she would need to pay another Rs 2.6 lakh.

She collected the money over the next four days and deposited it in the same bank account. Subsequently, even as Lukas stopped responding to her calls, Nikita began to ask for Rs 10.5 lakh.

Realising she had been duped by the two, the victim approached the VP Road police station. A case was registered earlier this week, under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and 66 (C) of Information Technology Act.

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Cyber fraud