MUMBAI, 6 AUG

Fraudsters have duped a woman in Mumbai of Rs 8 lakh after promising to give her Rs 6 lakh each for a Rs 100 currency note with '786' serial number and a coin of 25 paise with the image of a single-horn rhinoceros, police said.

The 49-year-old woman, a resident of Mazgaon in south Mumbai, used to collect old coins and currency notes.

After seeing an advertisement uploaded by a person on a Facebook account about attractive returns on old notes and coins, she contacted him, an official said.

The woman told the person that she can provide a Rs 100 denomination currency note having '786' serial number and a coin of 25 paise with a picture of a single-horned rhinoceros, which are considered rare.

The person then offered her Rs 6 lakh for each such currency note and the coin and asked her to deposit registration fees, GST and other charges, claiming these had to be paid as per the norms, the official said.

The woman subsequently deposited more than Rs 8.4 lakh in various bank accounts provided by the fraudsters, he said.

After realising she had been cheated, the woman approached the police on Monday with a complaint.

The police have registered a case against the unidentified persons under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act and are conducting a probe into it, the official said.