A recent fraud instance has surfaced in which a female doctor from AIIMS in Jodhpur was defrauded of Rs 18 lakhs by a person she met on a dating app. On October 15, the accused started talking to the doctor under the guise of Dr. Akash Joshi, a Dutch cardiologist. Their conversations soon turned to marriage, which facilitated the development of trust.
On October 22, Akash said he was in Istanbul buying medical supplies and asked the doctor for money to pay for his lodging and transportation. He promised to reimburse her as quickly as possible. Believing him, the doctor sent €9,890 (about 9 lakhs) to two Indian bank accounts, one in Rae Bareli and the other in Indore, which were owned by Arvind Yadav.
Akash got in touch with her once more on October 28 and said he had deposited €30,000, or about Rs 30 lakhs, into her SBI account. But he informed her that there will be extra fees for converting euros into Indian rupees. Some posing as representatives of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) called and emailed the victim, requesting an extra Rs 9,35,000 payment. With the assistance of a colleague, the doctor carried out the directives and sent the funds to Houliang Thang’s accounts at Union Bank and Punjab & Sindh Bank.
The promised cash never came to pass in spite of these attempts. With suspicions mounting, the doctor attempted to contact Akash but was unsuccessful. She complained to the Bhagat Ki Kothi police station in Jodhpur after realising she had been duped. Since then, Assistant Sub-Inspector and investigating officer Prahlad Meena has taken up the case.
A well-known example of how these scams are frequently carried out is the fraudster’s strategy of establishing a rapport through an online interaction before instilling a sense of urgency surrounding money transactions. This case emphasises the need for caution and the dangers of online connections, particularly when significant sums of money are at stake. To find the people who committed the scam, authorities are actively looking into the situation.
SOURCE :
ETV BHARAT
