Bengaluru woman gets proposal from man with ‘Canadian citizenship’, loses Rs 5.6 lakh

Bengaluru: A 29-year-old woman searching for a life partner on a matrimonial website lost Rs 5.6 lakh to cybercriminals.
Preethi (name changed), a resident of Indiranagar, in her complaint to East CEN Crime police on April 24, stated she created a profile on a matrimonial website. On March 3, she received interest from a profile named Jayendra Kumar, who claimed to be of Karnataka origin, but with Canadian citizenship.

He claimed to be working as a senior officer in a reputed company and earning well. He proposed to marry Preethi. They exchanged phone numbers. Kumar used to text and call her from WhatsApp number +17093092358.
After interacting and exchanging their personal details over the next few days, Kumar claimed he was visiting India to meet her in person and take the proposal forward.
To make her believe he was flying to India, he sent her a photo of his flight ticket and claimed that he was bringing her costly gifts and carrying a large amount of money. On April 17, he claimed he had landed at IGI Airport in Delhi and was stopped by immigration officials. He said the officials detained him for carrying costly gifts and money, and sought her financial help to get released. Meanwhile, a woman introducing herself as Bhavana Singh called Preethi from number 9821256482. She said Kumar was detained and would be jailed if he didn't pay the customs charges and tax for carrying cash beyond the permissible limit.
Meanwhile, Kumar called her, broke down, and begged for help. She trusted him and transferred Rs 5.6 lakh in multiple transactions to the account numbers provided by the fraudsters until April 20. After fleecing money from her, both Kumar and Bhavana became unresponsive to her calls. It was only then she realised it was a fraud. She alerted the cyber helpline 1930 and later lodged a complaint with the police.
A senior police officer said such incidents have been happening for the last four to five years. "People should understand no one gets costly gifts and a huge amount of dollars or pounds, when they claim they are coming to India. People should be careful about such frauds," he added.
A case was registered under the Information Technology Act and BNS Section 318 (cheating).