A Mumbai woman was scammed out of Rs 1.3 crore after being deceived through a dating app.
The incident began in April 2023 when the woman connected with a man on the dating app International Cupid.
Over time, he gained her trust and convinced her to send him money.
Scams targeting vulnerable individuals have become increasingly common, and a recent case from south Mumbai highlights just how far fraudsters will go to exploit people’s trust. A 65-year-old homemaker was scammed out of Rs 1.3 crore after being deceived through a dating app. The criminals behind the scam used emotional manipulation, fake identities, and impersonation of officials to carry out their fraud over the course of more than a year.
The incident began in April 2023 when the woman connected with a man on the dating app International Cupid. The scammer, who introduced himself as Paul Rutherford, claimed to be an American civil engineer working in the Philippines, reports TOI. Over time, he gained her trust and convinced her to send him money after fabricating a story about an accident at his construction site. He claimed that he needed financial help to avoid legal trouble and deportation, and the woman, wanting to assist, sent him money in bitcoins between April and June 2023.
Also read: MP woman loses Rs 46 lakh in 5-day digital arrest by scammers: Here’s what happened
The scam took an even more elaborate turn when Rutherford promised to repay her by sending a parcel containing $2 million. In June 2023, the woman was contacted by a fraudster posing as a Delhi airport official, Priya Sharma, who claimed the parcel had been confiscated by customs and required multiple payments to release.
The scam continued to escalate as fake officials from various financial institutions got involved. In January 2024, a man claiming to be an employee of Bank of America in New Delhi contacted her, saying that the $2 million was transferred to their bank and even sent her a fake ATM card.
Over the next few months, the victim received more calls from impersonators posing as officials from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Ministry of Home Affairs, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Each call demanded additional payments, promising her that she would soon receive Rs 17 crore in return.
By June 2024, the woman had paid a total of Rs 1.3 crore to these fraudsters. Realising she had been scammed, she filed a police complaint.
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Ayushi Jain
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