American fraudsters defraud former IIT official of whopping Rs 21 lakhs, case registered

The victim, Abhilash, befriended the swindlers Wilsona and Steve on Facebook in November 2023. Soon after, they became close pals and Abhilash was lured into a herbal business owned by the duo and started investing money through a third person.

Kanpur: An American fraudster defrauded an ex-Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) officer of Rs 21 lakhs on January 6. On the request of the victim Abhilash, a resident of Ram Nager, the Bithoor police registered a case and an investigation is underway. As per reports, Abhilash befriended Emma Wilson, a resident of North Carolina, America, on Facebook on November 23. Wilson introduced herself as a doctor and her uncle Steve as a scientist. She said that uncle Steve runs a medicine manufacturing company that imports herbs from India.

Wilson and his uncle lured Abhilash into earning a lumpsum amount through this herbal trade. Wilson forwarded the number of Shanti Sharma, who would deliver herbs to Abhilash. Abhilash thereafter contacted Sharma and sent her Rs 80,000 for a packet of 100 grams of herbs, which was delivered to Abhilash. When Abhilash sent Steve the photo of the packet, the latter asked the former to order 200 more such packets. Abhilash contacted Shanti again for the herbs, and she demanded Rs 5 lakhs.

Abhilash, believing Wilson and Steve, transferred the amount from his wife's account to the account of Umesh Enterprises, a firm mentioned by Sharma. After sending Rs 5 lakhs, Shanti asked Abhilash to send 10 per cent of Rs 1 crore 60 lakh (the total amount of 200 packets of medicine).

At this point, Abhilash smelling something fishy denied the payment and revealed the incident to Steve, who asked him to open an account in a foreign bank account. In the name of opening the account, Abhilash transferred another whopping Rs 10.73 lakh from his bank account. However, from the following day, he was unable to contact Wilson, Steve and Sharma as their phones were switched off and unreachable. Realising that he had been prey to a case of online fraud of Rs 21 lakhs, he lodged a complaint against the swindlers at the local police station.