Bhubaneswar, Nov 6: A contractor from Bhubaneswar city of Odisha lost Rs 4 lakh online after befriending a foreign woman on Facebook, police said on Monday.
The victim Parshuram Acharya, a resident of IRC Village in Nayapalli area of the city, has filed a complaint in this regard at Bhubaneswar Cyber police station.
Parshuram came in contact with a woman from Thailand on Facebook and both became friends. They used to chat frequently as close friends. The woman introduced herself as a garment trader and sent photo copy of her VISA during chatting in the name of Juliana Anderson.
After over a month’s chatting on the social media platform, she asked Parshuram to help her in purchasing garments from India as it is costlier to import from Dubai.
Parshuman fell in her trap and visited garment factories in Ahmedabad, Kolkata to supply garment. On October 25, Juliana said she is coming to Delhi to give him 70,000 pound and shared her passport and VISA during chatting.
Later, she asked the victim to send Rs 40,000 towards custom duty and sent a link. He further sent Rs 98,000 to exchange the pound into rupees as asked by the woman. In this way he sent Rs 4 lakh in several phases.
Parshuram doubted her when she asked to send Rs 10.70 lakh to make the transferred money legal and enquired at Reserve Bank of India branch in the city. The bank officials informed him he was duped by the scammer and suggested to file a complaint at the cyber police station.
