Woman loses money, fraudster threatens to upload morphed pics

A 28-year-old woman has approached police after a man she befriended on a matrimonial site threatened to morph her photos with obscene pictures and upload them on the internet if she did not pay him what he demanded.

The accused identified himself as a London-based World Health Organisation gynaecologist during their frequent chats and telephonic conversations.

By the time the woman approached police, she was already duped of Rs 37,000. She realised she was being taken for a ride only when she was asked to cough up a further Rs 86,000.

The victim has provided police with the phone number and email id of the accused and his accomplice, and the details of the bank account she deposited the money into.

A resident of central Delhi’s Turkman Gate, the woman became friends with the man, who identified himself as Alex Ramsey, on a matrimonial website in March-end. Ramsey claimed to be working with WHO.

After a few days Ramsey told the woman that he was sending her a secret gift through Allied Express Courier Company.

On April 11, the woman received a call from an Indian mobile phone number. The caller informed her that she would be handed over the parcel only after she paid Rs 37,000 to the Mumbai Customs Department. The victim deposited the amount in an HDFC Bank account provided by the caller.

The woman received a call again the next morning instructing her to deposit a further Rs 86,000 in the same account. Suspicious, she enquired about the caller’s office address and the landline number. The caller then hung up.

The phone was found switched off after that, and the victim called Ramsey to seek his advice. Ramsey told her to deposit the amount without a second thought and provided her with an ICICI Bank account number.

By then, the victim had realised she was duped. When she expressed her unwillingness to shell out any more money, Ramsey allegedly threatened to morph her photographs and upload them on social networking websites.

The woman was scared, but later gathered courage and told him that she would approach police. Since then, the accused has been unreachable on phone. That forced the woman to approach Chandni Mahal police station.