Cyber criminal posing as NRI groom dupes Delhi girl of Rs 15 lakh

PTI, Feb 27, 2023, 4:12 PM IST

New Delhi: A 36-year-old Delhi woman transferred Rs 15.59 lakh online to her prospective groom, an NRI doctor from the UK, who told her that he was stuck at the Mumbai airport and custom officials were asking for money to let him go. Paramjeet Singh, whom the woman had met through a matrimonial website, had told her that he was travelling to India after they both decided to tie the knot in New Delhi.

However, little did the woman know that it was a ploy by cyber criminals to extort money from her. A senior police officer said similar cases have been reported from other districts of Delhi as well and probe has revealed that some Nigerian students are involved.

In an FIR lodged with Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell, the woman said she met Singh through the matrimonial website on April 26 last year and interacted online for some time. They exchanged their mobile numbers after that and started having conversations. They started liking each other and finally decided to marry, the FIR said.

The woman in her FIR said Singh told her that he was a well-known doctor in the UK and would not only take care of her basic needs but also give her a lavish lifestyle post-marriage. She added that Singh, on a WhatsApp video call, showed her his UK home which was quite impressive and she started dreaming about a happy and wealthy lifestyle post-marriage.

After their conversation, Singh told the woman that he was coming to India to marry her in the second week of May 2022, the FIR mentioned. He booked a ticket from London to Mumbai International Airport on Qatar Airways for May 23, 2022, and sent her an E-ticket to gain her confidence. He said he would fly from Mumbai to Delhi, the FIR said.

Police said Singh called her on May 24 and told her that he had had reached Mumbai airport but gotten into trouble as customs officials had detained him and were demanding Rs 15.59 lakh. A person posing as a customs official also spoke to the woman and asked her to transfer the money online into Singh’s account, police said.

The woman was provided different bank accounts in which she transferred the money, hoping that Singh would reach Delhi but he never came.

After losing all hopes of getting her money back, she filed a complaint following which the police lodged the FIR on January 31 and are investigating the matter. The police officer told PTI that some Nigerian students were involved in such cases.

”They leave their international roaming numbers on matrimonial portals and pretend to be in the UK. In fact, they stay in Delhi or in other cities and execute their fraudulent activities from here in India only,” the official said.

He added, ”In this case, the lady claimed that she spoke to the accused on video call and saw the house of the accused but in other cases what we have seen is that they share pictures on WhatsApp and chat only.”

The officer said when these cyber criminals have to defraud a woman in Delhi, they say they have reached Mumbai airport and were stuck with the customs and when they have to dupe a Mumbai girl, they say that they have landed in Delhi and are stuck in customs. ”We are hoping to make a breakthrough very soon,” he added.