When Daljit Singh, a divorcee, created a profile on a dating app to give love another chance, little did he know he would lose his lifelong savings. Last year, the Noida resident matched with a woman who allegedly convinced him to invest in certain companies that she claimed would earn him huge profits.

Instead, he lost his savings of Rs 6.3 crore.

Strangers To Friends: Trust Or Trap?

In December, Mr Singh, Director at a Delhi-based firm, matched with a woman named Anita, who claimed to be from Hyderabad. From casual greetings to more intense discussions, the conversations and closeness grew between the two. They became good friends.

After winning Mr Singh’s trust, Anita allegedly shared information on earning huge profits through trading and named three companies.

Mr Singh invested Rs 3.2 lakh on the first website and earned Rs 24,000 within a few hours. Mr Singh’s trust was reinforced when he effortlessly transferred Rs 8,000 from the profit to his bank account. Mr Singh was convinced that Anita was his well-wisher and was giving him the right advice.

He then leaped and transferred his lifelong savings of about Rs 4.5 crore. On Anita’s suggestion, he took a loan of Rs 2 crore and invested that as well.

Mr Singh transferred a total of Rs 6.5 crore to 25 bank accounts through 30 different transactions.

Suspicion Builds Up

When Mr Singh tried to withdraw the money, like he did earlier, he was asked to transfer 30 per cent of the amount invested. On refusing to do so, the contact with Mr Singh was cut off. Two of the three websites that Anita had allegedly informed about were down.

Mr Singh got suspicious and lodged a complaint at Cyber Police Station in Noida Sector-36.

Upon investigation, Anita’s dating app profile turned out to be fake. Police are now trying to gather information on the accounts to which the money was transferred.

(With inputs from Arvind Uttam)