Bengaluru, Oct. 6 -- A 59-year-old retired schoolteacher from East Bengaluru has fallen victim to an elaborate online scam that cost her Rs.2.3 crore. The woman, who lost her husband several years ago and lives alone, registered on a matrimonial website in 2019 in the hope of finding companionship.

According to her police complaint filed on October 3, she was approached in December 2019 by a man using the name "Aahan Kumar", a report by The Times of India said. He claimed to be an Indian-origin US citizen residing in Atlanta and working as a drilling engineer for an Israeli oil firm. He told her he was stationed in the Black Sea and shared an ID card, though it lacked a photo, to back up his story.

Over time, their virtual friendship tu...