A 30-year-old Mumbai Police constable was allegedly duped of Rs 11.2 lakh after befriending a man through a matrimonial portal, with fraudsters claiming that a gift containing jewellery and foreign currency had been sent to her from London.
According to the cyber police, the woman had created a profile on a matrimonial website in August 2026 and later deleted it. On September 1, she received a WhatsApp call from a man who introduced himself as Ravikumar and claimed that he had obtained her number from the portal.
The man allegedly told her that he was divorced, lived in Ahmedabad and worked in London. He claimed to own properties and businesses in London and Gujarat. The two exchanged photographs and spoke regularly.
On September 3, Ravikumar allegedly told the woman that he had received an award in London and had sent her a gift. He shared photographs and videos that purportedly showed him purchasing and dispatching the parcel.
The following day, another caller allegedly posed as an airport authority official and told the constable that a parcel in her name had arrived. She was initially asked to pay Rs 30,000 as delivery charges. To make the story appear genuine, the caller also sent her a purported Official High-Value Cargo Clearance Certificate.
The woman contacted Ravikumar, who allegedly confirmed that he had sent the parcel and assured her that the callers were genuine.
She then began making payments. The fraudsters later claimed that the parcel contained foreign currency and jewellery worth Rs 32 lakh and demanded another Rs 68,000 for currency conversion.
According to the cyber police, the woman ultimately transferred Rs 11.2 lakh to 34 different bank accounts between September 1 and 17. The payments were made on various pretexts, including delivery, customs clearance and currency conversion charges.
She became suspicious when the callers demanded another Rs 1.15 lakh and asked for her Aadhaar card. One of the callers also allegedly threatened to circulate her photographs if she refused to make the payment.
The constable then contacted the 1930 cybercrime helpline and reported the fraud. The West Cyber Police Station registered an FIR against an unidentified person based on her complaint.
Cyber police subsequently obtained details of the suspected accounts from the matrimonial platform and froze accounts that had received the transferred money.
The case highlights how fraudsters can use fake matrimonial identities, fabricated documents and repeated payment demands to gain victims’ trust before extracting large sums of money.
