A 75-year-old entrepreneur in Mumbai recently became the victim of a cyber fraud scheme and lost Rs 3.3 crore to a Ukranian woman. The incident came to the fore only after the victim, who owns a private company in Maharashtra’s Mumbai reported the fraud to the West Region Cyber Crime Police Station.
The scam, according to the reports, involved a Ukrainian woman named Esema who lured the entrepreneur with promises of starting a new company in India. She explained that her home country, Ukraine, was in chaos as a result of the ongoing war and claimed that her business has been destroyed. The woman managed to convince the Mumbai businessman that she has money and wants to start a new business in India. She first contacted the businessman via email, expressing her company’s interest in buying factory equipment.
Later, she stated she would send him a box containing $9.7 lakh in cash (roughly Rs 8 crore in Indian currency) to help him launch a new company in India in her name. In the next mail, however, she claimed, that the box had been confiscated by police in Jakarta, Indonesia. She demanded that the man pay several different fees in various accounts online for her to release the box.
The communication via emails continued and over eight months, the elderly man transferred money to 101 different Indian bank accounts, as instructed by Esema. He sent Rs 3.3 crore in total, hoping to receive the Rs 8 crore as promised. But he never received anything in return.
“The mail sender gave 101 account numbers to the complainant, asking him to pay fees for various certificates. He kept sending money for eight months to various accounts. In all, he sent Rs 3.3 crore, hoping to get the Rs 8 crore,” the police was quoted as saying by TOI.
The woman continued to make excuses and demanded more money, including fees for certificates such as anti-drug and money laundering clearance, transfer certificate fees, and other charges. She threatened to sue the man if he did not pay.
He was additionally compelled to provide income tax reports, a power of attorney, insurance, an original fund authorization certificate, and ministry of finance certificates, in addition to the money, to convince him of the authenticity of the transactions.
