Doon woman duped of ₹12 lakh by unknown telecaller

A 35-year-old woman in Dehradun has been allegedly conned by an unidentified telecaller of ₹12 lakh after she was lured with a well-laid out fraudulent scheme to apparently double her money, police said on Monday.

The woman, a resident of Patel Nagar, was being duped for the past two years but the incident came to light on Sunday when the victim lodged a complaint with police against the unidentified accused.

Patel Nagar police station SHO Suryabhushan Negi said the victim, who requested him to keep her identity confidential, lives with her husband while her children were studying abroad. Her husband is a businessman while she is a housewife.

“She was contacted by the accused about a couple of years ago promising to double her money in a scheme which later came out to be a Ponzi scheme. Believing him, she deposited a total of ₹12 lakh on various occasions in the past two years on different bank accounts of the accused,” said Negi.

He said a few weeks ago, the accused again called her and said he was coming to India to return her money.

“A couple of days ago, the accused called her again and said he has been caught by customs department officials at an airport. He told her that the officials are demanding money to release him so she should deposit more money on his accounts,” Negi said.

When the woman denied to deposit more money, the accused again called her and threatened to harm her family.

The woman, who did not tell the incident to her husband, got afraid and lodged a complaint with police.

“Based on her complaint, we have registered a case against the unidentified accused who seems to be a local resident. However, the woman is hesitating to give more details to police in the investigation fearing disrepute in her neighbourhood which is hindering the investigation,” the police officer said.