Kanpur: A retired teacher in Kanpur was duped of Rs 1.57 crore by cybercriminals posing as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and American singer-songwriter Josh Turner. The scammers, who claimed to be associated with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, convinced the former teacher to invest in a school business and made her transfer money to various bank accounts over a year.Allyson Weems, 61, a retired teacher from a private school in Kanpur, was contacted on Facebook by a man who introduced himself as Mark Zuckerberg. The imposter gradually gained her trust and discussed a proposal to start a school business venture in Kanpur.As Weems began to show interest in the proposal, ‘Zuckerberg’ connected her to a man claiming to be American singer Josh Turner on Facebook and WhatsApp. This ‘Turner’ too claimed to be an associate of Musk and offered a job to Weems in the upcoming Kanpur school.Convinced of the proposal, Weems began to deposit money into various accounts as suggested by ‘Zuckerberg’ and ‘Turner’ from Jan 2025 to Feb 2026.Funds were extracted from Weems for employment, investment, processing fees and other reasons, the report said. However, her chat history with both ‘Turner’ and ‘Zuckerberg’ was deleted.After her money was deposited, a person named Miracle Givers contacted her, promising to return her money. The scammer told the victim that her funds were in a package sent via FedEx and demanded additional money for shipping charges, customs fees, vehicle repairs, package release, and operational compliance fees. When she became suspicious, she ceased contact with Givers.Subsequently, through an account named ‘Cyber Reporting Assistance Online Scam Reporting Centre India’ on Messenger, she was connected with an ‘advocate’ Ashok Suresh from Lead India (Delhi) who told the teacher that her money had been invested in Wisdom Capital.The scammers showed the teacher’s funds as over Rs 2.23 crore in an investment portfolio after tax deductions. They then demanded more money for taxes, verification fees, stamp duty, and rebalancing fees to release the amount. They promised Rs 2.23 crore would be given on Feb 20 and lured her with an additional Rs 18.86 lakh in interest if she waited another month. After this, the accused cut off contact.It took her more than a year to realise that she had been scammed. She filed an FIR at the Cyber Crime Branch police station on Monday.According to the victim, she had deposited Rs 1.57 crore from her retirement fund, lifetime savings and other sources. On Feb 27, a complaint was filed on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, resulting in Rs 30.42 lakh being put on hold.DCP Crime Shravan Kumar Singh said, “The way the cyber crooks contacted and lured her shows they were well-prepared to deceive her. Our investigators will soon reach the culprits and resolve the case.”
