Mumbai: A 55-year-old man has lodged a complaint with the police stating that he had been duped by a gang of scammers who first called him claiming that a parcel of his containing unauthorised items, destined for Cambodia has been seized and that his Aadhar card has been misused. Then on the pretext of checking his financial details, the scammers induced him to transfer Rs 3 lakh in beneficiary bank accounts and duped him.
According to the police, the victim is a resident of Tardeo. On April 24, the victim received a call from a person who claimed to be an officer from Customs Department, Delhi and informed the victim that a parcel of his containing eight passports, 15 ATM cards, 10 SIM cards, 15 shirts etc destined for Cambodia has been intercepted and that his Aadhar card has been misused.
The victim told the caller that he had not sent any parcel after which the scammer told the victim that he would receive a call from a Delhi police officer with regards to the 'case'. The victim then received a video call from a person wearing a police uniform. He then sent bogus documents on the victim's WhatsApp such as Confidential Agreement, Arrest Warrant, Seizure Order etc in the victim's name.
The scammer also told the victim that someone is misusing his bank account for money laundering purposes. Later, the victim received a phone call from a person who claimed to be a CBI officer from Delhi and over the period of time, induced the victim to transfer Rs 3 lakh in beneficiary bank accounts for transaction verification purposes.
The victim was told that his financial transactions were found clean and the money would be refunded back in his account in a couple of days. However, when the victim did not get his money back, he realised he had been cheated and he then approached the police and got an offence lodged in the matter.
A case has been registered under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (forgery), 471 (using genuine a forged) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
