BENGALURU: A woman was duped of gold ornaments worth Rs 60 lakh and cash of Rs 22 lakh by a cab driver who was posing as her former boyfriend, in the city.
The woman, a resident of Ramamurthy Nagar, had booked an Uber cab last November and while travelling, she was speaking to someone on the phone saying that she was missing her former boyfriend Suman and that she was looking for him, but could not get in touch with him.
The cab driver Kiran, who was overhearing the conversation, dropped her off at some point and collected the fare through online payment. Three days later, he texted the woman posing as Suman. The woman, who was expectedly happy that her former boyfriend had got in touch with her, continued to chat with him.
The unsuspecting woman revealed personal information and even shared some photographs with the cab driver thinking him to be Suman. During the course of their conversations, Kiran asked the woman to lend her some money and promised her to return it soon. When she asked him when they would meet, he gave an excuse that he was tied up with work and would send someone to pick up the money.
When the imposter did not return the Rs 22 lakh as promised, the woman grew suspicious and when she cross-checked, she found out that it was not her former boyfriend she had been chatting with all along. The cab driver Kiran, however, threatened that he would share her photos with her husband and got her to part with 750 gm of gold ornaments worth about Rs 60 lakh.
Unable to bear the harassment anymore, the woman lodged a complaint with the Ramamurthy Nagar police. The cabbie has since been arrested and the gold recovered from him, but he had blown up the cash in pubs and bars.