Facebook 'friends' con Lucknow duo, pocket Rs 5 lakh

LUCKNOW: Two city residents have been swindled out of Rs 5 lakh by people they befriended on Facebook and who claimed to be from foreign countries.
Vikas Tripathi of Gomtinagar lost Rs 2 lakh to a woman called Diana Gomes who said she was from Scotland while Anjana Joshi of Thakurganj was conned into paying one Mike Barnes of the US Rs 3 lakh. Both lodged police complaints on Thursday.
According to Tripathi, he received and accepted a friend request from Diana in January.She promised an ivory present, but asked him to pay for customs clearance. He walked into that trap.
Mike, who befriended Joshi only last month, requested her to pay for customs for the dollar notes he was sending her, said Nandlal, inspector, cyber cell. "We suspect some Nigerian nationals are involved in the con. We will zero in on them soon," he added.