65-year-old lured with offer to join dating site, duped of Rs 73.5 lakh

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The Kharghar police recently arrested three people, including a transgender, and busted fake a call centre after they duped a 65-year-old man in Kharghar of Rs 73.5 lakh by offering him membership of a dating site.

According to the police, the arrested accused were identified as Sneha alias Mahi Das, 25; a residnet of Sodhpur, Prabir Saha, 35; from Mandalpara and Arnab Roy, 26, from Durgapur in Howrah, a Times of India report read.

Senior police inspector Pradip Tidar said Sneha contacted the Kharghar resident in September 2018 with an offer to take membership with the Locanto Dating Services and Speed Dating. They claimed that they provided women for dates and she would come to the location convenient to the member. However, as he did not facilitate dating, the victim demanded cancellation of the membership for which the agency demanded a very high cancellation fee.

The accused also threatened to lodge a police complaint against him for demanding girls and they sent him legal notices to scare him and extort money, Tidar was quoted in the report as saying.

Tidar said the accused demanded money to prevent legal trouble and made him transfer Rs 73.5 lakh to several accounts. The complainant paid it, fearing social stigma and eventually approached the police.

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