Woman spins a yarn to cheat trader

Sends bogus mail from IMF, makes him part with Rs 10 lakh

 A 39-year-old woman has been arrested in central Delhi’s Paharganj for cheating an Andhra Pradesh-based businessman by claiming to be a British citizen and promising huge investment in his business. Her African accomplices are on the run, police said on Friday.

Theresa Jovita D’Souza alias Rhea Jannet Mallon, a native of Goa, was held after a trap laid by economic offences wing personnel on Tuesday.

This followed a complaint by granite stone trader P Rahmatullah.
Sandeep Goel, joint commissioner of police (economic offences wing), said Rahmatullah was contacted through email in July by Johnson Mallon, claiming to be a British citizen who was interested in becoming his business partner in India.

Initially, Theresa along with Johnson met Rahmatullah’s sons at Ashoka Hotel in Delhi.
“In the meeting, Theresa introduced herself as Johnson’s wife, Rhea and both claimed to be British citizens, and promised huge investments in their granite business,” Goel said.
They provided photocopies of their passports. Johnson also visited Rahmatullah’s granite factory in Adoni on a trip paid for by the businessman.

During these meetings, Theresa and Johnson told Rahmatullah suggested that around US $ 8 lakh of their money was stuck with the Delhi office of the International Monetary Fund, and they intended to invest part of that in his business.

They asked Rahmatullah to given them Rs 10 lakh to get IMF clearances. Anticipating good returns later, the complainant transferred Rs 9 lakh on two different occasions to two bank accounts, police said.

Rahmatullah also received a couple of emails purportedly from Reserve Bank of India and IMF.

He also got phone calls, purportedly from RBI, asking him to transfer another Rs 1.20 lakh.

At this, Rahmatullah got suspicious and checked with RBI. He learnt that the emails were bogus.

During this entire process, Theresa and Johnson kept pressurising Rahmatullah for transferring Rs 1.20 lakh, ostensibly to get the RBI clearances.

Rahmatullah approached the economic offences wing on Tuesday. A team laid a trap with the victim’s help near Capital Residency Hotel in Paharganj, where Theresa and Johnson were to come to receive the sum.

However, only Theresa arrived and was apprehended. She told police that she used to do odd jobs in Goa and Mumbai before coming to Delhi.

“Scrutiny of her passport revealed that she has also visited a number of countries, including Nigeria, Cambodia and Vietnam. She has revealed that her accomplices are African nationals and not British citizens as told to the complainant,” Goel said.  Police are trying to trace her accomplices.