Buddhist monk loses Rs 1.97 crore to online cheating

A photo of the ID card states that Roland Michelle is attached to the US army

A photo of the ID card sent to the monk

A Buddhist monk here fell prey for online cheating and reportedly lost Rs 1.97 crore.

Karma Kedup, the victim, in a complaint, told the police that he deposited funds, which included his earnings of Rs 15 lakh and the rest borrowed from various monks to 22 bank accounts since February 7. As money involved is huge, the police have decided to hand over the case to the Criminal Investigation Department for further probe.

According to the police, Roland Michelle contacted him on Facebook introducing herself as a US army staffer. She sought funds to help orphans in India. Trusting her claims, he deposited funds to different accounts she had suggested. She had also claimed that she needed Rs 17.45 crore towards the release of 2.5 million dollars she had already sent to India. She had also sent him an image of the identity card showing her as the army staffer through WhatsApp.

It took some time for him to realise that he had duped him. There was no response from her when he questioned about the funds he had deposited.