Cyber crime: Vizag women fall prey to fake matches on matrimonial sites

In recent times, cybercriminals have been preying on their victims in various fashions to carry out frauds in lakhs of rupees. One such crime that came to light recently is carrying out cyber fraud through matrimonial websites. The Visakhapatnam Cyber Crime Department has received complaints from women who were duped by men posing as highly-qualified professionals looking for Indian matches on matrimonial sites.

Also read: Vizag Cyber Crime arrest Hyderabad man in loan app fraud of ₹100 crores

A total of two cases have been registered so far in which crimes have been carried out in identical ways. A woman belonging to the Madhurawada, who is a divorcee and a single mother, has uploaded her profile for remarriage on a matrimonial site. A month ago, a man contacted her, stating that he found her profile on the website and that he was interested in marrying her. The man informed her that he was also a divorcee who lived in Dubai.
After chatting with the woman for one week, he told her that he had booked tickets to come to meet her in India. Later, he sent her pictures of gift packages on WhatsApp, stating that he had sent them to her and would be delivered to her residence soon. Three days later, the woman received a call from a person posing as a customs official from the Delhi Airport. She was asked to pay a huge sum as the customs duty fees for the items she received in her name. The man posing as the customs official informed her that the package contained valuable items such as gold and diamonds worth lakhs.
She was told that she would be receiving the packages soon after transferring the mentioned amount to an anonymous bank account. As she did not receive any packages, the woman from Madhurawada called the man in Dubai and narrated the events to him. He told her that he had started from Dubai to India and asked her not to worry about the packages as he would pick them up personally at the Delhi Airport. The next day, the man called her, saying that he had landed in India and asked her to transfer some amount to his account as his forex account got blocked due to unknown reasons.
Later, the man blocked her number when the lady realised she was duped and approached the Visakhapatnam Cyber Crime Department on 20 August 2022. She informed the police that she had transferred Rs 18 lakhs to various accounts.
In an identical case, another resident of Visakhapatnam, a doctor by profession, was duped Rs 24 lakhs by a man who posed as a highly-qualified working professional from the US. Upon realising that she was duped, she raised a complaint with the Visakhapatnam Cyber Crime Department, who initiated an investigation into the case.
Based on the complaints from the victims, the cyber police tracked the criminals residing in Delhi. The accused persons have been identified as Osas (38), a resident of Nigeria, and his aid, M Khan (27).
Given these illicit activities, the Visakhapatnam Cyber Crime Department appealed to the citizens to be extra cautious while contacting anonymous persons and not to give out any bank details.

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