‘Doctor from New Zealand’ asks Rs 51 lakh for daughter’s treatment, dupes elderly from Mumbai

Mumbai: A fraudster posing as a New Zealand national befriended a 74-year-old Cuffe Parade resident and duped her of Rs 50.8 lakh by making her transfer the money for his daughter's treatment. An FIR has been registered on Tuesday.

The complainant had sent Rs 50.8 lakh in a total of 27 transactions to various bank accounts, provided by the accused. The FIR was registered with the south cyber police station.


According to the FIR, the complainant received a friend request from one Joshua William Douglas on Facebook and his profile had a picture of a little girl with him. The complainant followed him. In the FIR, she stated that she usually does not follow strangers, but in this case, she noted nothing amiss. Within ten minutes, she received a WhatsApp message and the sender identified himself as Douglas. He said that he was originally from New Zealand and was a doctor. He said that his wife and parents had passed away and he had a five-year-old daughter, Maya. He further said that his mother was a South Indian. During the WhatsApp chat, he told her that his life had become very difficult, the United Nations had sent him to the war-torn area of Yemen on a three-month contract. He said that he was a gynecologist and was performing emergency caesarean sections there.

One day, he said that Maya and many other children were admitted to the hospital after food poisoning from a birthday cake. He said that many children died in it, but his daughter Maya was alive and the doctors have said that she will have to undergo two surgeries and for that he needs money urgently. The complainant sent Rs 30,000 to help him for daughter's treatment. He said that since he was in the war-torn area of Yemen, he couldn't send money from his bank accounts and needed more money for Maya's operation.

"He sent me some bank account numbers and asked me to send money to them. Seeing the need of the situation, I again sent the money to the bank accounts. I was inquiring about his daughter's health through WhatsApp calls and chats. He said that he would come to India soon and return my money," she said in the FIR.

On Feb 9, Douglas informed the complainant that he was suffering from typhoid and needed money for treatment. When the complainant told this to her son, he told her mother that she was duped. She tried to contact Douglas' mobile but found that the number was switched off. She then approached the police.