Woman techie loses Rs 8.23 lakh to cyber fraudster

    Nagpur, Feb 23 (PTI) A 26-year-old woman software
engineer from Nagpur in Maharashtra was allegedly cheated of
Rs 8.23 lakh by a man claiming to be an US government
official, police said on Sunday.
    The victim, who was aspiring to work in the US, was in
the need of International English Language Testing System
Certificate (IELTS) and had posted a message for the same on
her Facebook account, a police official said.
    The woman, who belongs to Nagpur, is currently working
with a multinational software company in Hyderabad.
    "She was contacted by a man claiming to be a
top-ranking official with the US government who promised her
help in getting the IELTS certificate," he said.
    The woman sent her picture and passport details to the
accused on the Whatsapp number shared by him.
    "As instructed by the man, the victim initially
transferred Rs 26,000 to his bank account as the fee for the
certificate. However, the accused kept on demanding more money
under one pretext or the other like payment of government fees
to extract money from the victim, who ended up transferring
Rs 8.23 lakh to the fraudster in three months," the official
said.
    Police have identified the bank accounts of the man,
who is an Indian.
    No arrest is made so far. PTI CORR
NSK NSK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)