A 61-year-old retired teacher lost over a crore rupees in a recent cybercrime case in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Allyson Weems was lured on Facebook by someone pretending to be a fake Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. The imposter gained her trust and convinced her to invest in a school business venture in Kanpur.
Retired teacher scammed by fake Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg accounts
While some people might notice something was off and report it, the teacher fell for the scam. She was made to believe they had connections to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It led her to invest in a school business and transfer money to various bank accounts over a year.
The scammers took funds from Weems under the pretext of employment, investment, and processing fees. It is reported that her chat history with ‘Turner’ and ‘Zuckerberg’ was deleted.
Big scam of ₹1.57 Crore, lose her life time savings
She deposited Rs 1.57 crore from her retirement fund, lifetime savings, and other sources. After her money went in, another person, who called themselves Miracle Givers, contacted her. They assured her that her money would be returned, but she had started to become suspicious.
She was also put in touch with a so-called ‘advocate’, who claimed that her funds, reportedly misappropriated, exceeded Rs 2.23 crore and were invested in Wisdom Capital. However, when she expected the interest she had been promised, she received no callbacks. The scammers cut off communication. Soon after, she sought help and reported the incident to the Cyber Crime Branch. She filed an FIR on Monday. On February 27, she filed a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, leading to Rs 30.42 lakh being put on hold.
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