Thane man loses Rs 6.33 lakh in online dating fraud

A 48-year-old software engineer from Maharashtra’s Thane city allegedly lost Rs 6.33 lakh in an online dating fraud, police said on Sunday.

On May 24 this year, the man received a message on his mobile phone from a number offering online dating. When he called up the number, the person on the other side identified himself as Deepak and asked him to pay Rs 38,200 for creating his profile online.

Later, on multiple occasions, the accused made the victim allegedly pay a total sum of Rs 6,33,626 on some pretext or the other, an official from Chitalsar police station said quoting the man’s complaint.

When the accused did not get any response to his calls after paying the money, he filed the police complaint.

Based on the complaint, the police registered a case on Friday against the accused under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act, the official said, adding that no arrest has been made so far. The police are conducting a probe into the case, he said.