Woman loses Rs 20 lakh to cyber crook

Bhubaneswar: Longing for precious ornaments as gifts cost an octogenarian widow dearly who lost around Rs 20 lakh to unknown cybercriminals recently. The 80-year-old housewife, a resident of Old Sadar Thana Lane of Puri, has lodged a complaint in this regard with the Crime Branch.

According to sources, the victim lady received a message from one Aron Jackson requesting friendship on her phone August 2 which she accepted. Later, Aron used to regularly send her various SMSes and messages on WhatsApp. Their friendship continued for several months till October 6.

Meanwhile, the crook told the lady that he had sent a gift packet containing gold, diamond ornaments and various luxurious beauty products from outside India in September.

A few days later, Aron again called her that the customs officials at Bombay Airport had seized the gift packet. Subsequently, the victim received an SMS allegedly from the Customs department at Mumbai airport asking her to release the gift by paying various dues like customs duty, GST charges.

The gullible lady deposited Rs 19.97 lakh in various bank accounts provided by the conman pretending as a customs official. She deposited the amount in various instalments between October 11 and 28. However, she did not receive any gift despite the payment of such a huge amount.

On the other hand, when she questioned Aron over non-receipt of the gift, he suddenly stopped talking to her and sending messages too.

Finding no other way, the victim finally sought the help of CB.