Daijiworld Media Network - Dharwad (SP)

Dharwad, Dec 11: A youth from Hubballi was enamoured by the beauty of a girl he met on Facebook. He chatted with her regularly for almost two years, during which period he spent nearly Rs 15 lac. Having realized that he was fleeced, he has approached the police, and is flabbergasted to know that the girl in which he believed, is actually a boy.

The victim of this fraud is Rudragouda Mallanagouda Patil, resident of Rayanala village in Hubballi taluk. When surfing the internet, he came across a beautiful girl, Sushma, on Facebook. He got introduced to her there, and the two exchanged lot of information through Facebook and WhatsApp messages. The two came very close. Sushma explained to Rudragouda that the financial condition of her family was very bad. During the course of chatting between 2017 and 2019, she convinced Patil to part with about Rs 15 lac in stages.

In fact, Sushma, in reality is a boy. The boy posed himself as a girl, created account in the acquired name, 'Sushma' and succeeded in convincing Rudranagouda Patil to part with money. 'Sushma' told Rudragouda that 'she' does not know how to properly speak and therefore confined communications to Facebook and Whatsapp chats.

After he lost lot of money, Rudragouda realized his foolishness. He conducted a thorough verification and found that 'Sushma' actually was Parap Gowda Murthy from Doddaginigeri village in Hassan taluk. Hubballi crime branch police said that Pratap had opened fake account in the name of girl.

Rudragouda's complaint has been registered in cyber police station here. The cyber police, who are investigating, have asked the people using social websites to be very careful lest they could be preyed on by cheaters and impersonators.