For a long time, Ramsagar, a small grocery shop owner in Kathmandu, had been dreaming of purchasing the latest iPhone. But given his meagre earnings, Ramsagar, who the Post is identifying with a pseudonym for privacy reasons, couldn’t afford it. He thought that was about to change when, in the first week of July, he got a ‘friend request’ on Facebook. The new Facebook friend said he was an agent who sells ‘very good condition’ iPhones at minimum price. Ramsagar now had a tempting offer: he could get his dream gadget—an iPhone 14 Pro Max 128GB—for just Rs80,000. The gadget is currently priced at Rs191,990 in the Nepali market. And so, Ramsagar, who is 37, made up his mind to buy the gadget—in his choice black colour—and talked to the agent. The agent asked Ramsagar to pay Rs3,000 as shipping cost and sent him a bank account number.

The agent then made another request, an advance of Rs25,000. As days went by, the agent asked Ramsagar to pay as much as Rs175,000 on various pretexts. He was assured that he would get the iPhone delivered to his home. A month has passed since Ramsagar became ‘friends’ with the agent but his dream gadget hasn’t been delivered to his home yet. And it will likely never be. When Ramsagar tried to contact the agent recently, he was shocked to learn that he was blocked from his contact list.

Ramsagar, who is originally from Okhaldhunga district, then filed a complaint with the Bhotahity-based cyber bureau on July 25 to nab the fraudster.

“I had to borrow money to send it to the agent and I have been cheated,” Ramsagar told officials at the cyber bureau. “Please help me get back my money.”

Officials at the cyber bureau say the number of people who have been swindled on such fake offers of iPhones has increased of late. The bureau has registered ten such complaints, all related to iPhones, since the start of the current fiscal year in mid-July, according to Superintendent of Police Pashupati Kumar Ray, who is also the spokesperson for the bureau.

Many Nepalis wish to use such expensive gadgets as iPhones but they want to get them at dirt cheap prices, Ray said, reasoning such scams.

The cyber bureau, however, says such cases of cheating are outside their purview and advise complainants to seek police’s help instead.

Manoj Kumar KC, chief of the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, said this kind of cheating is a recent, evolving trend.

“We too have received such complaints of late,” KC said. “Many people lured by such offers of iPhones and other expensive gadgets have been cheated online.” He said the growing demand for iPhones in the market has led to a rise in such scams and that his office is probing such cases.

KC added authorities should raise awareness about the issue and advised customers to only follow authentic information. “If someone knows they are cheated, they should immediately inform the police,” he said.

The bureau’s data shows that there has been a steady rise in online fraud cases over the past year. These include digital identity theft, hacking, cyberstalking, cyberbullying, phishing and other forms of frauds online.

Ray, the cyber bureau spokesperson, said they received as many as 2,100 complaints regarding online frauds in the past year.