In a case representing multi-faceted cyber fraud, a 65-year-old woman was targeted and lost ₹1.30 crore to a group of scammers who impersonated officials of various organizations. The incident began when the victim, who had recently shifted from Chandivali to Byculla, received communications from a stranger named Paul Rutherford on an international dating app. He identified himself as an American civil engineer working in the Philippines.
The woman’s ordeal began in April 2023, when Rutherford fabricated a sob story of a tragic accident at his construction site and pressed for money, fearing deportation back to the United States. Emotionally touched by his story, she transferred about ₹70 lakh in Bitcoin to him from April to June 2023, having borrowed money from her relatives. Rutherford had assured her that he would return the amount urgently.
It is alleged that Rutherford sent her a parcel containing US$ 2 million in June. Thereafter, the victim received a call from a woman who introduced herself as Priya Sharma from Delhi airport, informing that the customs had intercepted the parcel and asked her to pay some fees and taxes and transfer money to different bank accounts.
The victim followed these requests from June 2023 through March 2024, making substantial deposits into the specified accounts. A police officer in the case concluded, “The fraud didn’t end there.” In an escalation of their tactics, scammers called posing as executives of Bank of America and claimed they got the money Customs released to her and sent an ATM card.
He then received calls from impersonators of Ranjana of the International Monetary Fund and Meera Bakshi of the Reserve Bank of India, asking him to make further deposits to various accounts to exchange dollars into Indian currency amounting to ₹17 crores.
However, despite having transferred a total amount of ₹1,29,43,661 to the fraudsters, the woman continued to be in touch with the new fake authorities over the phone until she finally began to smell a rat. She then immediately approached the cyber police.
Since the woman was previously residing at Chandivali, based on her complaint, an FIR was registered at the West Region Cyber police station under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
An investigating officer said, “We have launched the investigation, but so far, we have not received any leads to trace the fraudsters.”
