A contractor in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior was allegedly duped of ₹ 1.27 lakh after cyber fraudsters posing as a woman from London lured him into a fake foreign currency deal, police said.

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The victim, identified as Kamalkant Yadav, reportedly came in contact with the accused on Facebook on April 24 after accepting a friend request from a profile named “Lucy Charles”, according to a report by India Today. 

Chats moved from Facebook to WhatsApp

According to police, the woman gradually gained Yadav’s trust before shifting the conversation to WhatsApp under the name “Dr Patricia R Medicine”.

During their chats, she allegedly claimed to be a resident of London and told Yadav she was planning to visit India. She further claimed she would be bringing 95,000 British pounds and needed assistance converting the money into Indian currency.

Police said Yadav believed he could earn a large commission through the exchange process and continued speaking with her.

‘Parcel’ held at Mumbai airport

On April 27, Yadav allegedly received a call from another woman, who introduced herself as an employee at Mumbai airport.

She reportedly informed him that a parcel containing foreign currency had arrived in his name and needed to be cleared after payment of registration charges.

Investigators said the accused then allegedly extracted money from him under different pretexts, including registration, clearance and processing fees.

Police said Yadav initially transferred ₹38,500 as registration charges. Later, another₹ 88,600 was allegedly taken through multiple transactions, taking the total amount to around ₹ 1.27 lakh. 

Victim approached cybercrime helpline

The contractor reportedly realised he had been cheated after the accused demanded an additional₹70,000.

He later lodged a complaint on the cybercrime helpline number 1930, following which Madhya Pradesh Police registered an e-zero FIR under provisions of the IT Act against unidentified accused.

Jhansi Road police station in-charge Shakti Singh Yadav said an investigation into the cyber fraud case has been initiated.

Published on: May 12, 2026 9:00 AM IST