A 26-year-old woman softwareengineer from Nagpur in Maharashtra was allegedly cheated of Rs 8.23 lakh by a man claiming to be an US government official, police said on Sunday.The victim, who was aspiring to work in the US, was in the need of International English Language Testing System Certificate (IELTS) and had posted a message for the same on her Facebook account, a police official said.The woman, who belongs to Nagpur, is currently working with a multinational software company in Hyderabad."She was contacted by a man claiming to be a top-ranking official with the US government who promised her help in getting the IELTS certificate," he said.The woman sent her picture and passport details to the accused on the Whatsapp number shared by him."As instructed by the man, the victim initially transferred Rs 26,000 to his bank account as the fee for the certificate. However, the accused kept on demanding more money under one pretext or the other like payment of government fees to extract money from the victim, who ended up transferring Rs 8.23 lakh to the fraudster in three months," the official said.Police have identified the bank accounts of the man, who is an Indian.No arrest is made so far.
