Bizman duped of Rs 4 lakh by Facebook ‘friend’

Thane: Befriending an unknown person on Facebook proved costly for a 41-year-old small-time businessman from Kalwa who was duped of Rs 4.11 lakh. The victim, a Kharegaon resident, had received a friend request on Facebook from a stranger last month. The profile, named as Tony Louis, identified himself as a renowned businessman abroad and looking to expand it in India, informed a police officer.
The accused claimed to have several businesses in different countries.
The duo started chatting frequently and over a period of time, they became good friends, a police officer said. “Intially the two started chatting on Facebook and then moved to WhatsApp and even had long calls,” added the officer.
Louis offered the victim an opportunity to become a partner in business, and that he shall soon reach India to broker a deal with him elaborately.
The fraudster told the victim that he was going to land in Delhi on Friday and would be carrying gold he had specially got for him. On Friday, the fraudster called up the victim and sounded to be in trouble, telling him that he had been caught by custom officers at the Delhi airport and he had no Indian currency to do the settlement. The accused then requested the victim to deposit cash in an account number of a nationalised bank.
The victim deposited Rs 4.11 lakh in three instalments at the given bank account and waited for Louis to come down and meet him.
“The victim called up the man a couple of times on his phone but in vain as the number was switched off. He was still optimistic and went onto check tge Facebook profile, which he found had been de-activated. It was then that he realised he had been cheated,” said a police officer.
An offence has been registered at Kalwa police station.