Kerala: How a ‘Facebook friend’ duped Kerala woman of 8 lakh – Times of India

By Andrew McCollum On Jun 29, 2023

A Kerala woman was duped of Rs 8 lakh by a person who she befriended on Facebook – giving a reminder why people should be careful while accepting friend requests and chatting on social media platforms.
According to a report online, a 39-year-old woman, who worked as an accountant at a sweet shop in Kasaragod municipality in Kerala, fell victim to ‘gift scam’ and lost about Rs 8 lakh, which she paid in six instalments.

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How it all started
It all started when she received a friend request on Facebook from someone who claimed to be a friend from the UK. The person’s name is identified as ‘Dr. Kennedy Nick Moores’ and the woman claims she accepted the friend request after checking the profile.

She said that she found that the person was a doctor from Berlin who stayed in Birmingham, UK. Both of them did not talk for five months. Soon they started talking with each other and weeks after chatting, the scammer told her about an expensive gift bought especially for her.
The woman resisted but the scammer insisted that she share her postal address. After checking with her manager she provided the scammer with her address.
According to the report, she received a call from someone claiming to be from a courier company called Perfect Cargo. The person on the call asked her to pay Rs 25,400 in order to receive the gift.

“I checked Google and found the courier company was genuine. But I did not have the money,” she was quoted as saying.
The woman then contacted the Facebook friend and said the person should pay for the delivery. The scammer reportedly got angry and said that she “was insulting him.”
‘iPhone and Rs 40 lakh trap’
The person from the courier company contacted her again saying the package had an iPhone. She transferred the money to a Google Pay account provided by the delivery person.

After the money transfer, the person from the courier company called again saying that said the package was now with the Income Tax Department because they found Rs 40 lakh hidden inside the package. She was asked to pay Rs 87,000 to get a court order to release the package.
The Facebook ‘friend’ then told her to ignore the package if she didn’t want the money. By then, she had fallen into the trap. She transferred the money into the same Google Pay account.
The woman was then asked for Rs 2.17 lakh to get an NOC from the Income Tax Department. She borrowed from her relatives and sent the amount. The person from the courier company then asked for Rs 4.73 lakh so that the illegal exchange can be kept under the sheets.

Earlier this week, she again got a call again asking for an additional 67,000 but by that time, the woman had realised that she was conned. When she contacted her Facebook friend, the person said that he didn’t want to be disturbed.
How to safeguard
It is advised that users exercise caution during their exchanges online. Despite being tech savvy, people may fall prey to scams. Any request that involves money should be carefully attended as any offer that sounds too good to be true generally comes out as a scam.