An IT engineer was allegedly duped of Rs 24 lakh by a woman whom he found on an Odia matrimony site.
The matter came to light after the victim, who hails from Jatani area of Khurda, lodged a complaint with the cyber police in Bhubaneswar.
As per the complaint, the woman reportedly misrepresented herself as an Odia girl from Balasore pursuing a medical course in California.
The accused, who introduced herself as Priya Gupta, pretended that she was caught at Delhi airport as she was carrying 70000 British Pounds (₨ 6,710,197.31).
She tricked the youth and made him pay Rs 24 lakh in several installments in order to facilitate the release of the UK currency.
"I cannot share more details. They (fraudsters) were in contact with my family for over a period of six months. The fraud happened just a few days after I learnt about them. They provided fake identity and claimed that they hail from Bhubaneswar. Some people whom she introduced as her relatives also talked to us over phone. The police are tracking the phone numbers. The girl claimed that she now works as doctor in California," said the victim.
Speaking about the case, Rashmitarani Sahu, inspector of cyber police station Bhubaneswar said, "An IT professional from Bhubaneswar area has complained that he had given an advertisement on Bharat Matrimony for marriage following which he came in contact with a woman and got cheated. In this regard, a case of economic offence has been registered at the cyber police station. An investigation is underway. We will get more details after the investigation gets over."