‘Facebook Friend’ Dupes Cuttack Sexagenarian Of Rs 60 Lakh

Cuttack: An elderly man hailing from Cuttack city has been allegedly duped by a person via Facebook, police said on Thursday.

The victim, identified as Sushanta Sahu (62), a resident of Manisahu Chhak in the Buxi Bazar area of the city and following this, has filed a complaint in this regard at the Cyber Cell of the Crime Branch.

According to the complaint, Sahu had received a friend’s request from a person on Facebook, who claimed to be living in Syria. After chatting with the new friend, both shared their contact numbers and switched to WhatsApp conversations.

After some days of chatting, the Sahu’s Facebook friend said he is interested to sell his house and valuable properties in Syria and lured Sushanta saying that he would be happy to sell all these to his friend, the complaint read.

Before the land deal, the Facebook friend said that he has sent a costly gift for him and asked to send some money to clear the taxes. Sushanta sent Rs 5,000 in the first phase and Rs 10,000 in the second phase to get the parcel, it added.

Later, he sent Rs 60 lakh between June and July to buy house and property in Syria as asked by the Syrian friend. When Sushanta revealed this before his friends and relatives, he was told that he has been duped by cyber frauds, it further added.

Meanwhile, cyber cops have launched an investigation into the incident and trying to nab the victim as soon as possible.