An elderly Tibetan monk from India is reportedly duped of more than Rupees 1.7 crores by a Facebook friend. The Tibetan monk has been cunningly duped by a friend on the social media posing to be a genuine person willing to provide financial support to the monk in helping orphans in India.
Karma Khedup is a 74 year old Tibetan monk from the Tibetan settlement in Mundgod, Karnataka. Khedup is reported to have joined Facebook in January 2017 and he was soon befriend by a woman who introduced as Roland Micheal, posing to be a US army staff. She had introduced herself as an orphan wishing to contribute around $2.5 million for social work in India.
However, the woman had requested money from the monk to clear customs. According to a senior police officer from the cyber crime department, Karwar where the monk has now lodged a complaint, Khedup has deposited a total of Rs. 1.73 to various bank accounts as instructed by the Facebook friend. The monk has put up all his savings of Rs. 15 lakhs and the rest had been borrowed from various people.
“Since February, the monk has been deposited money into various bank accounts as he was told to do. He deposited around Rs 15 lakh from his earnings and borrowed the balance from other monks,” the police official said. Although the monk had extended the friendship to WhatsApp, Roland and her alleged associate are now not traceable.