KOLKATA: A 52-year-old Gariahat resident was allegedly duped of Rs 90 lakh over 11 days by a ‘Facebook friend’ who had introduced himself as a pilot. The money was deposited to different accounts in 23 instalments.The woman had allegedly received a friend request from one Manish Kumar in February. The man introduced himself as a pilot settled in the UK and after a week of conversation, he told her that he had sent her a parcel with a golden heart, some gold jewellery and $70,000 as gift. But the parcel was stuck at the customs office in Delhi. He even promised to visit her later.The woman, a widow for two years, was already swayed by the man’s attitude and conversations and did not suspect anything amiss when he asked her to get the parcel released by depositing Rs 45,000 in the account of his agent, Saleem Khan. She transferred the money on March 8. Soon, he started demanding more money — ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5.8 lakh — to be sent to multiple accounts as customs duty and RBI stamp charges for seamless transport of the parcel to her place.The woman said she had also received a call from a person claiming to be a representative of Bank of America and that a parcel was stuck with the customs and demanded more money to claim it. “Kumar then asked me to open an account in that bank so that he could deposit $70,000 dollars and asked for more money before I could use the account . He later sent a debit card to my address and said the account had been opened,” the woman stated.The woman had transferred the entire amount to eight different accounts in Jaipur, Delhi, Haryana and Uttarakhand. She finally realized she was being duped and lodged a complaint.Police registered a case under sections of the IPC and the IT Act. “We are trying to trace the money trail and the Facebook account holder,” a senior officer said.

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