A 37-year-old woman in Bengaluru was cheated of Rs 4.5 lakh by a man on the online dating app "Tinder".
The woman later reported the incident to the city police to help recover the money and it was later reported to the Whitefield cyber crime police station on May 19.
As per the police, the woman, who works for a private firm in the city, connected with Mumbai-based man named Advik Chopra on the app about a month ago who told her that he was a medical professional, based in London.
"Unbeknownst to her, Chopra had registered under a false identity. Intrigued by his profile, she reciprocated the interest, resulting in a match. During their conversations on WhatsApp, Chopra told the woman that he worked as a medical practitioner in London, United Kingdom," a police official said.
The woman informed the police that after a few conversations, Chopra had gained her trust and she eventually fell in love with him. The man said that he wished to meet her in person and told her that he would fly to Bengaluru.
On May 17, the woman got a call from from Airports Authority of India (AAI) from an unidentified number.
The woman said that the AAI official, who turned out to be fake, asked her for Rs 1.8 lakh fees and an extra Rs 2.06 lakh as processing fee. The woman, believing that Chopra had indeed come to India, sent the money to the bank details that she was given.
"The person at the other end, who later turned out to be a fraud, informed me that Chopra had arrived at Delhi airport carrying unaccounted cash. He insisted that an endorsement and payment of Rs 68,500 were required for Chopra to travel to Bengaluru," she said in her complaint.
"As I was convinced that Chopra had travelled all the way from London to see me, I was deeply distressed and anxious about the difficulties he was facing. This blinded me from harbouring any doubt about the authenticity of the person requesting money. I simply wanted to ensure Chopra’s smooth exit from the airport so that I could meet him as soon as possible," she added.
The woman, however, started suspecting foul play when an extra Rs 6 lakh was asked from her for GST purposes.
"As she inquired further, the call abruptly ended, and Chopra ceased all communication. The woman soon discovered that Chopra’s profile on Tinder had been deleted, and her attempts to reach out to Tinder customer support proved futile," police said.
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