http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Goa/Velim-woman-cashes-in-on-NRIs-netted-after-net-transfer/articleshow/46509536.cms
Velim woman ‘cashes in’ on NRIs, netted after net transfer TNN | Mar 10, 2015, 03.09 AM IST PANAJI: Anita Cruz, 36, a resident of Velim, Salcete, ran out of luck on Sunday evening, when the cyber crime cell of the Goa police arrested her for duping Goan NRI youths of 5lakh. Her modus operandi was to pose as a 21-year-old on Facebook with a fake ID claiming that she needed money for her "mother's emergency treatment who needed to be rushed to a Mumbai hospital." Cruz, a housewife, created five fake profiles on the social networking site posing as a nurse working at Goa Medical College (GMC) and Hospital, Bambolim, and befriended Goan boys working abroad. She would tell them that she was staying with her mother and that she had lost her father when she was very young. She would sweet talk them, get close to them and suddenly, tell them that she needed money urgently for her mother's treatment. A couple of boys fell prey to her claims and transferred money online to her cousin's account'. A senior officer of the cyber crime cell told TOI that as friendship developed, she used to create these stories about her mother falling sick suddenly and that she has to take her to Mumbai for emergency medical treatment. Later, she would tell her NRI friends that her mother was required to undergo an emergency surgery and that she has run out of money. Once in an emotional tangent, she would request the boys to transfer money through a money transfer agency and would give them her 'cousin's name'. The cyber crime sleuths in the course of their investigation found that the name she would give them was her real name, so she could withdraw the money. The cheating came to light when a girl filed a complaint with the cyber crime cell that someone had used her name and picture to create a fake profile. Around the same time, Seby, an NRI youth working in London, on suspicion filed a complaint through his friend in Goa that the girl had demanded Rs one lakh from him for her mother's treatment. The cyber crime cell then laid a trap for the woman at Margao and arrested the accused when she came to pick up the cash from the complainant's friend. While the accused had claimed to be in Mumbai in chats with her facebook friends, she was actually in Goa. Police said that during investigation, they found that the accused had cheated Jovino (full name withheld) working in Dubai to the tune of Rs 4,15,000 over a period of time and Seby to the tune of Rs 50,000. Victim Jovino had transferred some money to the accused through a money transfer agency and also on three occasions had handed over the cash in person to the accused through his brother in Goa. Seby had transferred the money to the accused through electronic money transfer mode. Cyber crime cell officers said that they are investigating to find if more NRI youths have been cheated using the same modus operandi. The cyber crime police has attached three mobile phones which the accused used- one for the name in her fake ID and others for posing as her cousin, which she had used for calls and chats, along with one laptop, one tablet, two wireless routers all worth about Rs 90,000, which the accused had disclosed to have purchased from the money sent by the victims, apart from cash of Rs 38,000.
