Kolkata: Social media crime seems to be running rampant in the country. In most cases, miscreants use social media as the backbone of their plans. Whether it be sexual harassment or online fraud, social media seems to play a key role in a lot of such cases. A senior citizen was allegedly duped of Rs 90 lakh by a social media friend of hers. Here it is to be noted that the accused allegedly swindled Rs 90 lakh from the 52-year-old after her befriended her on Facebook. The duped money was transferred into different bank accounts in 23 installments. The accused duped the money over a time period of 11 days. The victim then transferred money ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5.8 lakh. The accused asked the victim to give the money in the name of custom duty and RBI stamp charges. The victim allegedly received a phone call from a representative of the Bank of America. The representative stated that a parcel was struck with the customs and asked her to give money to clear the parcel.
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According to source report, the accused sent a friend request to the victim in February. The accused allegedly told the victim that he was a pilot settled in the UK. After talking to her for over a week, the accused said that he had sent a parcel to the victim. The parcel allegedly had a gold heart, gold jewellery and $70,000 as a gift. The accused said that the parcel was stuck at the customs office and that he would visit her in a few days. The victim said that she was impressed by the accused and their conversations. The victim did not even get suspicious after the accused asked her to get the parcel released from custom. The accused asked the victim to deposit Rs 45,000 in his agent, Saleem Khan's account. The victim allegedly transferred the money on March 8. Soon after she transferred the money, the accused started demanding more money.
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Followed by this phone call, the accused asked the victim to open an account in the Bank of America so that he could deposit $70,000 in that account. The accused then sent a debit card to the victim's residence and told her that her account had been opened. The woman had transferred the money to eight different accounts. The accounts were from Delhi, Haryana, Jaipur and Uttarakhand. After she realised that she had been duped, she approached the police. A complaint was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the IT Act. The police are yet to trace the accused.