BENGALURU: An 80-year-old woman was duped by a conman who arrived in a Toyota Fortuner, posing as an acquaintance. Using a fabricated wedding story, he gained her trust and persuaded her to show her gold bangles, claiming he wanted a similar design made for his fiancée. While distracting her with images of gold on his phone, he stole two bangles weighing around 50 grams.According to the complaint filed by Kanaka Sampath, a resident of Basavanagudi, the stranger visited her home around 11.45am on March 28, when she was alone. He struck up a friendly conversation, pretending to be a familiar face or a distant relative. To win her confidence, he claimed his wedding was scheduled for the following month and warmly invited her to attend, even promising to gift her a sari for the occasion. Later, he feigned noticing the gold bangles on her hands, complimented them, and said he wanted similar ones made for his fiancée. He persuaded her to accompany him to a jewellery shop to show the design. When she mentioned difficulty walking due to leg pain, he offered to drive her in his SUV and drop her back home.Trusting him, she got into the white Toyota Fortuner. He drove her around the Mani Sports area, but claiming there were no jewellery shops nearby, he returned her home. He then said he would call a jeweller to her house and asked her to hand over the bangles to show the design. Distracted by pictures of gold bars on his phone, which he claimed would be used to craft the bangles, she unknowingly handed over the two bangles to him.In a matter of moments, the conman made her get out of the vehicle and drove away with the two gold bangles. The woman later discovered her bangles were missing and filed a complaint with police. A case was registered under BNS sections 303 (theft) and 318 (cheating). Using the vehicle registration number captured on CCTV, authorities are now working to trace the miscreant, a police officer said.
