MANGALURU: Earlier, it was a text message which bounced into the mobile, or a mail informing unsuspecting persons about lotteries worth billions of dollars won in a distant land. This modus operandi was started by people from the African continent, mostly from Nigeria, to con people.

But not anymore. Now, Nigerians have started outsourcing the services to Indians, so the racket appears more genuine to the victims.

The latest example is from the city, where a woman lost Rs 21 lakh of her hard-earned money, made in several countries as beautician and caretaker, when she fell prey to this internet scam.

Violet D’Souza, a resident of Madyar near Kotekar, shared her ordeal with TOI, saying she had lost all her earnings in just two weeks.

“On May 9, I received a WhatsApp call from a London-based number. The caller identified himself as Goodson Paul Wilfred and claimed that he was my friend Lumit’s husband. I knew Lumit, a native of Switzerland as she was a guest in the Maldives when I was working there as a beautician. He said that Lumit’s wife had sent me a gift to my home address in Mangaluru. Initially, I refused to accept it, but he kept insisting and sending multiple texts to accept it and finally I agreed,” Violet said, adding that the demand for money began after some later.

“A few days later, I received a call and a person claiming to be from the Airport Authority of India demanded that I pay Rs 78,000 to clear the parcel. I called Goodson and Lumit, and they told me they had sent 28,000 pounds in the parcel as a gift, which had been intercepted by the customs department. They asked to pay the money and I did.

“The demand for money kept continuing, there were calls from different people claiming money to clear the parcel. The callers said they were from the tax, finance and other departments. Without realizing that I was conned, I kept transferring money through netbanking to the account. In return they would send a mail containing forged documents, and I believed them,” she said, adding that she stopped sending money only when her cousin told her it was an online scam.

Violet later filed a complaint with Ullal police station and police were successful in arresting two persons from Delhi, Laltan Mavia, 34, a resident of Vikaspuri in New Delhi, and Koup Boyi, 32, of Churachandpur, Manipur.

The investigating officer said that Laltan was working as a manager with a fast food chain in Delhi. “Primary investigations revealed that they committed the crime with the help of Nigerians.” Police also asked the public not to fall prey to telecallers, email or text messages and send money as per demand.

