A 47-year-old woman in Thimphu lost Nu 80,000 to two unknown scammers on WhatsApp earlier this month.
According to the police, a homemaker, staying at Kabesa received several calls from WhatsApp saying she has won WhatsApp prize of US$ 1m. She was then asked to deposit Nu 10,000 as a WhatsApp voucher charge, Nu 45,000 as a Prime Minister signatory fee, and another Nu 25,000 to release the prize.
Police said the woman, deposited Nu 80,000 in two different bank accounts registered with Bank of Bhutan (BoB). While one account was in the name of the Bhutanese, other was in the name of a non-Bhutanese.
However, since she did not receive any prize after paying this hefty amount, she registered a police complaint.
Police stated one of the alleged account holders has been arrested in Samdrup Jongkhar under similar case. Police are investigating the case. But they suspect that Bhutanese people and Indians have colluded to carry out such illicit acts.
This is the second such scam case reported in Thimphu so far. Similar cases have also been reported in Paro and Samdrup Jongkhar.
Police say, despite innumerable reminders, people still remain oblivious about such crimes.
