Parajuli and 14 other youths were luckily saved from a Romanian national´s ploy to dupe them. Dan Adrian, 30, who held a Romanian passport (050041424) but pretended to be a US citizen, had attempted to swindle around 60,000 US dollars from the youths, who were led to believe that he would provide them working visas for the US. [break]
Nepal Police is now hunting for Adrian and Suresh Neupane, a Nepali aide, for trying to cheat the youths. Though six of them including Parajuli, who have recorded their statements with police in course of lodging their complaints, are found not to have handed any money to Adrian, some them said Adrian went out of contact after taking around 4,000 dollars from four of the youths. Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD), which has taken over the investigations, has not received any complaint though.
According to Parajuli, Adrian produced documents to convince the youths that he was working as a secret agent for the US embassy to deal with people willing to pay huge sums for visas.
“We went to the US embassy on Monday to show the documents he gave us, and the embassy said they were all fake and informed the police," said Parajuli.
Following the embassy tip-off, MPCD circulated a nationwide alert on Adrian´s movements. A vehicle which he was said to be driving to flee the capital was seized at Khanikhola on the Prithivi Highway but he was not in it.
According to sources, Adrian was known to have gone to the Indian embassy for a visa on Monday morning when his clients were supposed to contact him for appearing in interviews at the US embassy.
Parajuli and his friends had come in touch with Adrian through Parameshwor Baral, who runs an educational consultancy in Pokhara. “I am also a victim. I believed in Neupane who introduced me to Adrian. The fraudster ripped off more than 4,000 pounds sterling from me on different pretences.”
According to the fake documents handed over to the youths, Adrian was an agent of Pandora Employment Company in Florida, USA. Sources said he could be a fraudster with a similar record in other countries also. “We are verifying different information about him,” sources said.
“This case shows that people should be careful and alert when foreigners approach them with rosy promises of overseas opportunities,” said SSP Rana Bahadur Chand, MPCD chief.
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