A college student and her mother lost Rs 1.1 lakh to an online fraud orchestrated by a Facebook “friend”.
Kengeri resident Bhavya (name changed), 21, said in a police complaint that one Myati Dayi sent her a Facebook friend request in September. She accepted it, impressed by his profile which claimed he was a manager at a reputable company in Ireland. Dayi initially sent her messages on Facebook but they later exchanged numbers.
When her mother asked why she was chatting with a stranger, Bhavya said he was a foreigner and he was helping improve her English. Dayi told Bhavya that she was pretty and proposed marriage. Bhavya told her mother about it.
Her mother thought it was a good match as her daughter would settle abroad. A week ago, Dayi told Bhavya he was sending them gifts, including a necklace, rings and some UK currency. He sent them photographs of the items. Two days later, Bhavya got a call from a woman who introduced herself as an employee of a courier service firm and asked her to pay Rs 30,000 as courier charges for an international package.
Not suspecting anything amiss, Bhavya and her mother borrowed the money and made the payment. But they were asked to pay another Rs 80,000 as custom charges.
Dayi asked Bhavya to pay the money and take the gifts. He also promised to return the money later. Bhavya and her mother took a loan by using gold jewellery as collateral. But the gifts never came.
Bhavya then decided to file a complaint. West CEN police have registered a case and are investigating.