Farmer accepts woman's friend request on Facebook, ends up losing Rs 6.3 lakh

Three Africans, including a woman, have been arrested for allegedly cheating a farmer of Rs 6.31 lakh using social media in Gujarat's Rajkot district. The accused have been identified as Josephine alias Angel from Ghana, and her purported associates, Mgenjeli Imani Dennis from Tanzania and Philip Batista Joseph Valentine from South Sudan.The complainant in the case had purportedly accepted a friend request on Facebook sent by the woman accused, who later introduced herself as a single mother. As part of the group's elaborate scheme, Josephine allegedly told the farmer she wanted to send him and his family gifts from Germany. She later told him the parcel contained valuables, including 30,000 euros in cash, a gold chain, a laptop, a watch and an iPhone.Soon afterwards, the man allegedly received calls from a woman posing as a customs officer at the Delhi airport, who demanded customs duty and other charges to supposedly release the parcel. The accused subsequently sought additional payments on various pretexts, including currency conversion, customs clearance and processing fees.Believing the claims to be genuine, the farmer transferred a total of Rs 6.31 lakh in multiple online transactions from his two bank accounts. However, the promised parcel never arrived. When the accused continued demanding more money, the man realised he had been duped and approached the cyber crime police in Rajkot. During the investigation, police carried out technical analysis of social media accounts, mobile numbers, WhatsApp chats, bank transactions, IP logs and other digital evidence. The probe traced the alleged cyber fraud operation to Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, leading to the arrest of the three accused from Delhi and Noida.Police said they have initiated the process of freezing 15 bank accounts allegedly used in the fraud. Preliminary investigation also revealed that two of the accused had entered India on student visas, while the third had arrived on a short-term visa. The visas of all three have since expired. Investigators further said that African nationals allegedly involved in such cyber frauds often remain in India after their visas expire because ongoing court proceedings prevent them from returning to their home countries, enabling them to continue operating similar scams. The investigation into the case is ongoing.- EndsPublished On: Aug 7, 2026 07:55 IST