A Kurla-based doctor was duped by scammers posing as LIC agents, to the tune of Rs.1 lakh.
The victim is a 30-year-old woman who works as a doctor in a private hospital. On November 25 afternoon, she received a call from an unknown number, who introduced himself as Anil Sharma, an agent at the LIC office.
Sharma told the victim that a policy belonging to her father was about to mature, adding that they would be sending the policy amount of Rs. 12,500 to her account. The victim mentioned that the caller seemed genuine as he knew all the details about the said policy, including her name, father’s name, policy date, and the amount.
While the phone conversation took place, the victim received a text message on her phone stating that Rs. 10,000 had been credited to her bank account. The caller, Sharma, then told her that Rs. 2,500 would be sent to her separately. After a few minutes, she said she got the same call, where Sharma told her that they sent Rs. 25,000 to her account by mistake, instead of Rs. 2,500.
“Sharma gave me a bank account number and asked me to return Rs. 22,500 that he sent by mistake. After a couple of failed transactions, I managed to return the money but he kept claiming not to have received it,” the victim said in her statement.
She was made to send four amounts - Rs. 22,500, Rs. 26,000, Rs. 25,999, and Rs. 25,000 - totaling up to Rs. 99,499. “I kept receiving text messages that said the transaction failed, and later realized those messages were not from the bank,” she added.
Later on Tuesday night, the victim approached the police and registered an FIR against unknown persons.
