Govt employee loses Rs 25 lakh in online dating scam

Hyderabad: A 51-year-old govt employee from Badangpet was allegedly duped of Rs 25 lakh by cyber fraudsters posing as administrators of an online dating platform. The victim was first contacted on Feb 4 through a Telegram handle ‘@Flirtify6884bot'. "I am a divorcee with no children and was looking for a woman to marry," the victim said.He received photographs of multiple women for online dating and chose one of them. He was then introduced to an individual chatting from the handle ‘@Shreya_15'. "She claimed to be from Karmanghat and forced me to join a dating sites, Flirtifydatingclub.cc and Romantic-Mine. After joining the sites, I was asked to complete a two-step verification process that required an initial payment of Rs 10,000. Subsequently, they claimed that I made an error during registration and forced me to pay Rs 2.5 lakh as refundable penalty," the victim said.Police said the pattern continued, with the fraudsters posing as a woman and resorting to emotional blackmail, forcing the victim to pay additional amounts to continue his membership on the dating sites. Detailed bank statements submitted by the complainant show 41 transactions between Feb 12 and 27 to various bank accounts and UPI IDs of the fraudsters, amounting Rs 25 lakh.As the accused continued to demand additional payments instead of returning previously paid fee, the victim realised he had been duped and approached the police on Thursday. Based on the complaint, a case was registered under Sections 66(c) and 66(d) of the IT Act and Sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the BNS.