Thane, Oct 16 A 21-year-old student from Thane in Maharashtra lost over Rs 2.4 lakh after being allegedly duped by scammers posing as student accommodation providers in Germany, police said on Friday.
According to the police, Sanita Sanjay Gaikwad, a resident of the city’s Kalwa area, was searching online for a one-month stay in the European country when she came across a Facebook page named “Berlin students accommodation group”.
Investigators said she was contacted through the platform, email and WhatsApp by individuals identifying as Vivienne Rochefort, Stuart James (operating via stewartjamesj0@gmail.com), and Laurent Liftat (using numbers +1 (856) 436-1105 and +44 7344 554212).
The trio allegedly induced the student to transfer funds under the pretext of booking the overseas accommodation. However, they became unreachable after she transferred a total of Rs 2.4 lakh, an official said, citing the complaint.
A probe is underway into the incident, he added.
(PTI News)
