MUMBAI: Lured by a heavily discounted online offer, a nurse at a private hospital in Mumbai ended up losing Rs 1 lakh in a fraud linked to a fake dress sale, police said. As per preliminary investigation, the fraud was orchestrated using a Facebook advertisement, a WhatsApp number and a fake delivery agent, an official from Deonar police station said on Saturday. The nurse, who lives in a hostel here, in her complaint said she came across an advertisement on Facebook offering dresses at just Rs 299. She then tried to buy one piece. The person at the other end initially sought payment for the dress, but later “continued to extract money under various pretexts such as shipping charges, GPS charges, tracking fees, verification codes and address confirmation,” the official said. The nurse told the police that she paid Rs 1 lakh over five days between April 16 and 20, and was repeatedly assured that most of the money would be refunded and the order would be delivered. When nothing happened, she realized that she had been scammed. She then contacted the Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 and lodged a complaint. The Deonar police have registered a case and launched a probe into it, the official said.
