A 53-year-old doctor lost Rs 1.75 lakh to fraudsters who posed as courier company executives and police officers and duped him on the pretext of intercepting a suspicious parcel, containing drugs, in his name.
In his complaint, the Bhiwandi resident said that one of the scammers called him on June 5, while impersonating a courier company executive. He informed that his parcel, which included credit cards, passports, Rs35,000 cash and MD drugs, has been caught.
Despite the doctor's denial that the consignment didn't belong to him, the caller told him that the courier order was placed using his Aadhaar card details and phone number. He then transferred the call to a Mumbai crime branch “officer”, who made a video call.
The complainant said that the call was conducted by a person donning a police uniform, with the Mumbai police logo in the background. The fake cop told him that his Aadhaar card has been used by a criminal element for money laundering activities. On the pretext of scrutinising his bank account details, the 'officer' induced the doctor to transfer the whopping amount, assuring that it would be refunded after the probe.
The doctor finally realised the scam when the 'cop' queried about his investments, which came up to Rs12 lakh, and tried to coerce him to claw into his savings to pay them. The fraudster threatened that if he didn't comply, he would be arrested and not get bail for three months. Subsequently, the complainant informed a relative about the incident, who told him it's a scam.
A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act was registered on Saturday.
