A 42-year-old housewife ended up paying Rs4.89 lakh to the cyber fraudsters who duped her by sending bogus government documents linking her with tainted money. The woman was even forced to pawn her jewellery to meet the monetary demands of fraudsters.
Details of the fraud
In her complaint, the Thane resident said that she received WhatsApp messages from an unknown number last week. Upon checking, the woman found photographs of 'certificate of ownership' having the label of Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND). Moments later, she received a letter of 'tax clearance certificate' in the name of FIU-IND, International Revenue Office, New Delhi.
Half an hour later, the aggrieved received a call from the same number and the caller told her that she would have to pay Rs5 lakh or else she would face court proceedings and police action. The frightened woman transferred Rs2.99 lakh and arranged Rs1.9 lakh by pawning her gold ornaments.
When her husband returned home, she told him about the incident and finally realised about the fraud. On November 24, the couple visited the cyber crime cell office at BKC where the cops took their online complaint and asked them to also file a grievance with the police station nearest to their home.
Case registered
A case has been registered under sections 420 (cheating), 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code as well as provisions 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
