Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police arrested two people, including one foreign national from the Ivory Coast for duping of Rs 1.22 crore on the pretext of sending a gift parcel.
The accused have been identified as Bakayoko Lassina (34), a native of Ivory Coast presently staying in New Delhi and Shoma Purkayastha alias Shoma, a resident of Delhi and a native of Meghalaya.
According to police, they spun into action after a complaint was received from a resident of Hyderabad who received a friend request from a person on social media who introduced himself as a doctor from Scotland.
"The accused person Bakayoko Lassina opened the fake account on social media and sent a friend request to the people randomly for friendship. The complainant who is a resident of Hyderabad accepted friend requests and daily chatted on social media as well as WhatsApp," police said.
The police further informed that later the accused informed the complainant that he is sending a gift parcel consisting of Gold Jewellery, diamonds and other articles.
A few days after Lassina told about the gift parcel, a woman called up the victim over the phone and introduced herself as an official of the customs department. On the pretext of a clearance fee for the gift parcel, she collected some amount. Later, on different pretexts, the woman was conned into transferring an amount of Rs 1.22 crore to the fraudsters, police said.
"After receiving the money, they would then proceed to avoid the complainant's calls and messages," police added.
On a complaint, a case was registered and the duo were booked under Section 66 (c) (D) of the Information Technology Act and Sections 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The accused were tracked down to New Delhi and were arrested, police said.
After a course of the probe, the police seized 20 Pass Books, 8 Cheques Books, 9 Cards, 12 Mobile phones, four Dongel, four Simcards, one Laptop and three ID cards.
( With inputs from ANI )
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