Pune: A college teacher (39) from Katraj lost Rs 12 lakh in a " gift fraud " allegedly committed by her "foreign based" virtual friend between June and Aug last year. The woman had filed a complaint application with the Bharati Vidyapeeth police last month and after verification a complaint was registered on Sunday. The police said the teacher had posted her profile on a photo and video sharing application.
"She liked profile of a man and started communicating with him. The man claimed to have been a ‘well-placed professional in a foreign country'. He also claimed that he was an NRI," inspector Sharad Zine of Bharati Vidyapeeth police told TOI.
"During one such conversation, the man offered to send her a costly gift. Later, he called and informed her that the customs officials had intercepted the gift at the Delhi airport. He also told her that she needed to make some money transfers to get the parcel released," the officer said.
"He told her that he had shared her phone number with the officials and they would contact her and ask for some payments. Following this, the woman received calls from a person, who posed as a customs official. The person shared bank account numbers to which the woman transferred the money," Zine said.
"The man stopped communicating with her after money was transferred," police said..