Doctor posts plans of studying in London on Instagram, gets duped of Rs 9.63 lakh

Written by Sanchari Chattopadhyay Published On 2021-08-22T09:15:57+05:30 | Updated On 22 Aug 2021 9:16 AM IST

Doctor posts plans of studying in London on Instagram, gets duped of Rs 9.63 lakh

Mumbai: A female doctor, who posted on Instagram expressing out her desires to pursue further studies in London was duped of Rs 9.63 lakhs by a miscreant who introduced himself as a captain in a shipping firm in London.

A case has been registered against the accused man under sections 34 (common intention) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 66C (punishment for identity theft) and 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act on Thursday.

As per a recent media report in Free Press Journal, the victim has been identified as a doctor working in a famous South Mumbai hospital and a resident of Byculla. The doctor always wanted to pursue her further studies in London and was saving money to bear the costs. She had also applied for a visa in order to travel to London. In her statement, she stated that she posted on Instagram mentioning her plans to visit London for further studies.

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On July 31, she received a message from one David Lucas when she was working at the hospital. She answered his text the very next day. They started chatting and the latter introduced himself as a captain working in a shipping firm in London, reports Free Press journal.

" The victim told the man that she wanted to visit London to pursue further studies and was arranging money for the same. Lucas, on various occasions, asked the victim to share her bank account details so that he could send money to achieve her dreams, but the victim refused," said a police officer.

According to the daily, on August 2, the man informed the doctor about a surprise gift which he had arranged for her. The next day, a woman called the doctor and claimed to be a customs officer. The so-called officer told her that a gift has arrived in her name but she would have to pay Rs 60,000 as customs charges to receive it.

The man later called the doctor and confirmed that he indeed sent gifts to her. He stated that the gift parcel contained 25,000 pounds and expensive bags. Convinced by the man, the doctor agreed to pay the fee as a custom charge. Later, the accused woman allegedly scared the doctor by mentioning that as the parcel contained foreign currency, she might face a money laundering enquiry as well. The woman kept on urging the doctor to pay more and more money on different grounds. The doctor paid a total of Rs 9.63 lakh in different bank accounts.

"However, when the demand for money continued, the victim demanded related documents and bills of the money she had paid to the woman. When she did not receive any response, she realized that she had been duped," the officer said.

Finally, the doctor approached the police and lodged a case against the accused on Thursday.

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Source : with inputs

Sanchari Chattopadhyay

Sanchari Chattopadhyay has pursued her M.A in English and Culture Studies from the University of Burdwan, West Bengal. She likes observing cultural specificities and exploring new places.