Mumbai: A 50-year-old woman allegedly fell prey to catfishing on Facebook and lost Rs 4.60 lakh within a month.
According to the police, the Navi Mumbai resident who works for a private insurance firm in Ballard Estate was scammed out of her hard-earned money by a man claiming to be Spanish national and his female accomplice.
In her complaint, the victim has stated that she received a friend request on Facebook on June 18 from Azman Gomez who claimed to be from Spain and said that he worked in the aviation sector.
She accepted the request and the two began chatting. They soon exchanged phone numbers.
“Gomez then told her that he was coming to Delhi on July 5 and would come to Mumbai to see her later,” said a police officer.
On that day, however, she got a call from a woman who identified herself as Himani and said she was calling from Delhi airport. Himani informed the victim that Gomez had been detained. She then, over a period of two weeks, made the woman deposit money in various accounts multiple times. The reasons varied: Gomez did not have a Yellow Card; his foreign currency had to be converted into rupees and hence a penalty had to be paid; Income Tax clearance and many more.
“The victim kept depositing the money, all the while being assured by Gomez that he would pay her back as soon as he was released,” added the officer.
However, she got suspicious after their demands didn’t subside.
And from July 17, both Gomez and Himani stopped taking the victim’s calls. She lodged a complaint with the police on September 3.
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