velu Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 cant believe even educated/literate people fall for this age old nigerian scams Quote The victim says the woman, claiming to be US national, sent him dollars that were black in colour; he then spent a fortune to ‘process’ the notes A 38-year-old Kalyan resident has been allegedly duped of Rs 2.53 crore by a gang of Nigerian fraudsters, who used a woman to befriend him on Facebook and then trapped him with the bait that he could eventually lay his hands on $1.8 million if he followed all instructions. Swapnil Dhamankar, who works as a senior visa officer with the Royal Thai Consulate, ended up selling his house and wife’s jewellery, liquidating his fixed deposits and LICs, and even borrowed money from people in his bid to get hold of a certain chemical and powder that could have helped him “process” the dollars that came to him smeared in some black taint. While the deceit started in August 2017, Dhamankar approached the Khadakpada police recently after realising that he had been duped. An FIR was lodged in the case on Thursday. According to Dhamankar, who used to stay with his wife Amruta, son Abhinesh and daughter Sanskruti at Mahavir Heights in Wayle Nagar, Kalyan, it all started with a woman sending a friend request to him on Facebook. “In August 2017, I received a friend request from this woman called Maryiam Khurshid. She said that she was a US national but was staying in Iran and needed help from me. After I accepted the friend request, she told me that her husband, who used to work with the US Army, died in a war, after which her brother-in-law forced her to shift to Tehran. She claimed that she had a 12-year-old son and that her brother-in-law was pressuring her to marry him. She also told me that she had her husband’s savings of 18 lakh US dollars ($1.8 million) and wanted to safeguard it,” Dhamankar said. Maryiam, Dhamankar added, told him that she wanted to shift to India with Dhamankar’s help and would first send the US dollars to him so that they could start a joint business once she reached the country. “In August that year, I received a call from a person who identified himself as a customer officer and asked me to pay Rs 6,80,000 for customs tax, anti-terrorist code and transport charges for getting the dollars that were being sent by Maryiam in a box. I sent the money to a bank account given by the customs officer. In September, a person, who identified himself as Jons Scotton, called me to say that he had reached Mumbai and was on his way to Kalyan to deliver the box,” Dhamankar said. That midnight, a Nigerian reportedly reached Dhamankar’s home and delivered the box of dollars. “I opened the box to see sixteen bundles of dollars, but they had turned black. The man said that a chemical could retrieve their original colour. He was also carrying a bottle of the said chemical, but it was broken. He told us that we could purchase the chemical on our own, but it would cost Rs 15 lakh for half a litre. With a little liquid that was left in the bottle, he turned five dollars into new ones,” said Dhamankar. Dhamankar and his wife then travelled to Hazrat Nizambuddin Station in Delhi and paid Rs 15 lakh to Scotton to get half a litre of the liquid. The family was then allegedly contacted by another person called George Kara, who told them that the half-litre bottles were out of stock and that they will have to pay another Rs 15 lakh to get a 1-litre bottle and Rs 10 lakh for a powdery substance to “charge” the chemical. Dhamankar did as he was told. However, the Dhamankars didn’t know how to use the chemical to treat the dollars and waited till November, when another person called Khallu Technician approached them, claiming that he could clear the black taint from the notes with the help of two 100 US dollar notes. He also asked the family to get at least 100 such notes. “We then sold the flat where we used to stay for Rs 41,50,000 and transferred the money online to the bank account of Kara, who sent Khallu Technician to us with three bundles of dollars. He did something with the notes and kept the black-coloured dollars in my fridge and asked us not to touch them as they were in processing. But when we checked, the dollars didn’t change colour,” said Amruta, Dhamankar’s wife. The family got in touch with Maryiam. She apparently promised to come to India and asked the family to transfer Rs 1 lakh to her bank account for her flight ticket as she didn’t have money. The Dhamankars again fell for the trick and transferred the amount to her bank account. “But when they tried to contact her, they found her number to be switched off. So were the other mobile phones that were used to approach them,” said Balasaheb Kadam, senior inspector, Khadakpada police station, Kalyan. Apolice team will be soon leaving for Delhi as most fraud gangs operate from there. https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/civic/lured-with-1-8-million-by-fb-friend-kalyan-man-duped-of-rs-2-53-cr/articleshow/67695334.cms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beetle Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 These two idiots have produced kids too.... velu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dial_100 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 1 hour ago, beetle said: These two idiots have produced kids too.... Beetle ji, what i notice that people dont waste anytime teaching their kids about ethics and morals which are at the foundation of our culture. No bloody educated guy even teaches his son that better die than cheat or beg, never expect a dime from others. So the only obsession develop is that they have to acquire material. beetle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beetle Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 59 minutes ago, dial_100 said: Beetle ji, what i notice that people dont waste anytime teaching their kids about ethics and morals which are at the foundation of our culture. No bloody educated guy even teaches his son that better die than cheat or beg, never expect a dime from others. So the only obsession develop is that they have to acquire material. True. No money management too. Kids are not taught how to handle finances .,how money grows and how somethings are too good to be true. But what amazes is how two idiots find each other and get married. Not one of them could tell they were being screwed. I thought horoscope matching was about balancing two people and not about matching idiots with idiots . velu, dial_100 and sensible-indian 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straight Drive Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 (edited) Is this for real. Not even 1 paise common sense shown. Transfer lakh of rupees, sold flat. That says it all about the common sense. Educated people falling to such scams. Edited January 27, 2019 by Straight Drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikred Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 That cannot be the complete story. The amount is adding up to only 80 lakhs. What about the remaining amount? Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beetle Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 2 hours ago, nikred said: That cannot be the complete story. The amount is adding up to only 80 lakhs. What about the remaining amount? Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk Accountant in the house .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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