Skip to main content

Woman Loses Rs 4.3 Crore, Becomes Homeless, Trying To Find Love Online

A woman based in Perth has been forced to live homeless after losing over Rs 4.3 crore ($780,000) in life savings to scammers while searching for love online. According to a report in news.com.au, Annette Ford, 57, is now couch-surfing in Western Australia and hoping to secure housing at an affordable retirement village as the scammers remain free.

Ms Ford joined the dating pool after her 33-year-long marriage ended in 2018 and her ex-husband moved on quickly. Looking to seek a love life of her own, she joined a dating site called "Plenty of Fish" where she started talking to a man named 'William'.

Over the course of several months, the stranger managed to win Ms Ford's trust before asking her for money. 'Wlliam' said he needed Rs 2,75,000 ($5000) as his wallet had been stolen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"He said he had been mugged outside the site he was working on (in Kuala Lumpur) and they took his wallet and his cards," said Ms Ford.

"The next thing I know he's in hospital and I'm being landed with a $5000 hospital payable to an Australian doctor. I (paid) that. Then there was a hotel bill, and he said he couldn't pay the workers on the site because he didn't have access to his cards."

The requests for money continued and by the time Ms Ford suspected she had been scammed, she was out of Rs 1.6 crore ($300,000), having drained her self-managed super fund. Despite reporting the case to the Australian Federal Police, Ms Ford did not hear anything back.

Also Read | British Woman Duped Of Rs 98 Lakh In Catfish Scam By Friend Of Two Decades

The second scam

Four years later, Ms Ford came across another scammer -- this time on Facebook who went by the name, 'Nelson'. The stranger told her that he lived in Amsterdam and had a friend in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who needed $2500 to help with an ongoing investigation.

Aware of the danger, she refused initially but the stranger told her to deposit money he sent to her into a Bitcoin ATM. Ms Ford said there was money going in and out of her account that she wasn't aware of and before she could realise it, her account was out of Rs 1.5 crore ($280,000).

Having lost everything, Ms Ford is now begging Australians to not fall prey to such scams. "They say all the right things, they sweep you off your feet but they're going to take your money and they're going to leave you broke," Ms Ford warned.

Last month, a British woman was swindled of Rs 98.5 lakh (£92,300) after a friend of two decades, ran a catfish scam against her.



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/GaRX57C
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PM Modi To Reschedule 3-Nation Europe Visit As Tensions With Pakistan Soar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put his three-nation Europe visit on hold as tensions between India and Pakistan have surged in the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in which 26 civilians were killed by Pak-linked terrorists in a religiously-motivated terror attack. India responded on Wednesday with precision missile strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. PM Modi, who is closely-monitoring the situation, has reportedly asked for his visit to Croatia, Norway, and the Netherlands, which was due next week, to be rescheduled. As per his original schedule Prime Minister Modi was to commence his official visit to the three nations on May 13. He was also going to participate in the India-Nordic Summit in Oslo on May 15 and 16. All three countries have been informed about the change in PM Modi's schedule. They have also been appraised about the current situation between India and Pakistan. Last month too, on the day of the Pahalga...
Post a Comment
Read more

Delhi to Get More EV Charging, Battery Swapping Stations as Cab Aggregators Increase E-Bikes

The NDMC is planning to increase the number of EV charging stations in Lutyens' Delhi and even provide battery swapping facilities at some of these points, a senior official said on Wednesday. With Delhi being among the most polluted capitals in the world, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has been making a push for electric vehicles to nudge residents to opt for cleaner vehicle options. There are around 100 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the national capital at present and this would be the first time that some of them would have battery swapping facilities, which is quite prominent in Western countries, he said. The official said the aim is to provide easy accessibility to charging stations and to save time by providing swapping facilities. This will give a major push to EVs in the city. Various PSUs, including the Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL) and the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KELTRON), have approac...
Post a Comment
Read more

After Nitish Kumar's 'Praise', BJP Says Doors Closed For Him

The opposition BJP in Bihar on Thursday said that its doors were "closed" for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who dumped the saffron party a year ago, stripping it of power in the state. State BJP President Samrat Choudhary made the averment to this effect in reply to queries from journalists about the Janata Dal United leader's address to the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi Central University at Motihari. Speaking in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu and Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Mr Kumar had freely spoken of the tussle he had with the then Congress government at the Centre for getting a university approved for Motihari, where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the Champaran Satyagraha. Without mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi by name, Mr Kumar acknowledged that the project saw the light of the day only after a change of guard "in 2014" as the UPA government "initially refused and after much persuasion agreed in principle but did not move for...
Post a Comment
Read more