Choose your friends wisely — for not paying heed to this common proverb, a 32-year-old woman had to undergo emotional trauma after she was cheated by a 34-year-old Afghan national.
Six months ago, the woman befriended a “banker” from Kabul on Facebook. The 32-year-old woman of the United States of America was allegedly cheated, sexually abused by Hameedullah, a married man. Based on the complaint filed by the US woman who came down to India, the Crime Branch arrested 34-year-old Hameedullah on the same day.
According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav, the woman, who is into the business of compression clothing in the US, claimed in her complaint that she befriended Hameedullah on Facebook six months ago. She alleged that he enticed her and slowly their friendship turned into a love relationship. The woman further stated that she was sexually exploited by Hameedullah. He also took a total of 86,000 dollars from her on different occasions.
“Within a few months of their affair, the US national was pressing Hameedullah to marry her. They used to meet in five star hotels in Delhi. However, he avoided the topic. When she persisted on the issue of marriage, he threatened her that he will upload her objectionable pictures on the internet, and further threatened her to attack with acid. Moreover, when she asked him to return the cash she had given to him, he
threatened her that he will falsely implicate her under charges of financially supporting terrorist activities in Kabul in Afghanistan,” said a senior police officer, privy to the case.
Hameedullah was apprehended on the midnight of February 3 and was taken under two days police custody after which he has been sent to judicial custody.
Police said that they are suspecting more women were trapped by Hameedullah. It was through one of his Facebook profiles, by the name of Faheem MK.
During the investigation, police found that Hameedullah mostly targeted women who were in their 30s, because he felt that they were more vulnerable as they were looking to get settled soon. His targets were mostly foreign nationals.
“He possesses excellent communication skills and has command over several languages. He has made several Facebook profiles with different names and approaches women users for friendship on the social media site. A smooth talker, he used to win the confidence of female victims and entrap them,” said Yadav.
So far, police have found two Facebook profiles operated by him and are looking for the other profiles he had used to target victims. During sustained interrogation, he claimed that he is married and his wife is in the US and is pregnant but police will be speaking to her to verify his claims.
After Hameedullah befriended the US woman on Facebook, he professed his love to her and persuaded her to meet him around November last year. Initially, he would portray himself as a gentleman and spend money on the woman to gain her trust, police said.
After winning her confidence by giving her assurance of marriage, he became physically intimate with her. During this time period, he also prepared a fake marriage document mentioning the woman as his lawful wife and started exploiting her sexually.
The Joint CP said that Hameedullah got the cheated amount transferred to Afghanistan and further received this amount in India through alternative channels.
Tortured at the hands of Hameedullah, the US national while surfing on internet stumbled across a website, ‘who scammed you.Com’. it was here that the woman found that Hameedullah is a popular scamster.
“When she confronted him, he threatened her that he would inform the FBI. He told her that he would claim that the money transferred by her was paid to some terrorists in Kabul. He also threatened her that he had clicked her indecent pictures and videos and that he would upload them on the net. The complainant was even threatened to attack with acid by the accused,” said the officer.
Investigation was taken up after a case was registered under various sections of the IPC. A team led by ACP Ishwar Singh was constituted to nab the accused.
The team apprehended accused Hameedullah near Hyatt hotel, RK Puram, Delhi on February 2. The team recovered two I-Phones, a laptop, documents of property purchased by the cheated money, jewellery and an Audi A3 car from the possession of the accused.
“He holds an Afghan passport issued at Kabul. His family moved to the UAE in 1997-98 due to hostile conditions in Afghanistan. He arrived in India in July 2011 on a tourist visa that was later converted to medical visa,” said Yadav.
His visa had expired in 2013. He claimed that he had been adopted by an Indian woman and had prepared some documents to cement his claims, sources said, adding that the documents will be verified. He was living a luxurious life with the money he got from his victims.