In Vadodara, a citizen made a costly mistake by accepting a friend request from an unknown individual, resulting in a loss of Rs 95 lakh due to online fraud. Parag Desai, an Alkapuri resident, lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime police station against unidentified individuals.
Desai informed the police that he received a friend request on Facebook from a woman named Steff Mhiz in October of the previous year. They started conversing and later regularly chatted on WhatsApp after exchanging numbers.
The woman informed Desai that her company required some herbal products available in India. She suggested that he could purchase the product for Rs one lakh per packet and sell it to her company for Rs two lakh per packet. She told Desai that her company needed 100 packets of the product and that the profits would be shared with him. She provided him with the contact of a man named Dr Virendra to procure the product.
Virendra sent Desai the product details via email, and the woman asked him to transfer Rs one lakh to Virendra for a sample packet. Virendra sent him some packets, which Desai initially did not open.
Desai transferred the money and later ordered more product packets. He transferred Rs 68 lakh into various bank accounts as per Virendra’s instructions at different times. Desai continued to transfer money as Virendra kept requesting payment under various pretexts. When Desai became suspicious, he asked Virendra to refund his money and cancel the deal. However, the refund never arrived, and both Virendra and the woman became unreachable. When Desai opened the samples, he was dismayed to find some fried chips and powder.
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