A customs inspector and his wife were duped of Rs 1.9 lakh by an unidentified person on Tuesday evening, who impersonated a close relative and asked them to wire the money to help a friend's son in hospital. The accused was constantly speaking on the phone with the complainant's wife, posing as her brother and making demands. A case has been lodged at Powai and further probe is underway.
On Tuesday evening, when the customs inspector was on his way home, he received a call from his wife, who claimed that she was speaking to her brother on the phone and he wanted to help a friend of his. "The complainant's wife said that her brother had wired Rs 2 lakh in her account, as he could not directly wire the money due to a server issue, and asked her to transfer that money in his friend's account. The imposter shared screenshots of the NEFT transaction and claimed that the money would soon be credited in the wife's account," said an official.
Since the customs inspector's wife had only Rs 90,000 in her account, she asked him to wire the remaining amount from his account. The complainant said in his statement, "I was in the parking area when my wife requested to wire funds, to which I obliged and transferred Rs 25,000 and Rs 75,000 in two transactions via net banking and UPI method, respectively. Later, when I reached home, my wife was still talking to her 'brother' on the phone, who asked her to transfer Rs 2,50,000 more and claimed to have wired that amount through NEFT."
Finding something amiss, the customs inspector spoke to the man on phone and realised it was not his brother-in-law at all. Upon confronting, the imposter gave vague answers, which is when the complainant called his brother-in-law, who denied making any calls or his friend's son being hospitalised. The customs inspector immediately approached Powai Police and alerted the bank, to inform them of the con. Subsequently, a case of cheating was registered at Powai police station and the accused was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act. While police are tracing the number and trying to identify the accused, they have written to the bank to stop and revoke the payment.
