LAHORE: A Pakistani man, Nadeem Ali has become a victim of cyber fraud which came under the banner of Facebook friendship with a Canadian woman.
As per details, the story began eight months ago when a Canadian woman named Rose from Ottawa Ontario sent a friend request to Ali an hour after midnight.
Ali not only accepted the request but also began talking to her. Citing the story Ali shared, “I saw her display picture, and she looked foreign. When we started talking, the woman used to speak English, and I do not know English. Whenever we used to talk, I always used Google translator to respond to her,” he added.
After developing a friendship with Ali with the passage of time, Rose began playing out her fraudulent approach. She told him how her husband died losing his battle with liver cancer. Besides this, she disclosed that her husband left behind insurance of about $4.7 million.
The woman asked Ali to take half of the above-mentioned amount and start a business from it. She also asked him to get subsequently get his paperwork done, get a visa for Canada, and come to her.
Rose also promised him to marry as soon as possible. Ali shared, “The love was real for me but I lost Rs 2.7 lacs owing to her betrayal.” Rose told him that due to the coronavirus pandemic, she would like to send him some money through aid.
She asked for his bank account details, and house address. Two days later, she said that all banks are closed, so she will send the money through courier.
In an effort to get the courier delivered to his house, Ali lost Rs27 lacs to a pseudo courier company, a fake custom person, as well as a sham UN office, and a Canadian bank called ‘EH National Bank’.
After losing all his savings, Ali approached Lahore Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cybercrime office. The officials assured him of recovering all his money and to start an investigation.
Lamenting the loss he said, “If any gori sends you a friend request on Facebook. I suggested you directly block her,” Ali says after learning his own lesson. The story began eight months ago and ended with a great lesson to social media users on January 05.
