Mumbai: A 46-year-old businessman fell victim to a drug courier parcel scam, resulting in a loss of Rs 8.43 lakh. The fraudster, posing as a CBI officer, falsely informed the victim, Vijay Nair, about a case filed against him and coerced him into transferring money. A case was subsequently filed against an unidentified individual at Oshiwara police station on February 17.
Victim Was Told A Parcel In His Name Containing Drugs Was Found
According to the FIR, Nair, a resident of Lokhandawla Complex, Andheri West, is an industrial goods supplier businessman. On February 17, Nair received a call from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be an employee of the FedEx courier service. The caller claimed that they had received his parcel but had a problem and requested to dial one and talk with customer care. Nair followed the instructions and provided his basic information. The fraudster informed Nair that a parcel in his name had been seized by customer officers at Mumbai Airport, containing two kilos of clothes, an expired passport, four ICICI credit cards, and 700 grams of MD (Mephedrone).
Later, he received a Skype call from the fraudster identified himself as Cyber officer Pradip Sawant. Sawant requested Nair to speak with the Deputy Commissioner of Police via a voice call and gave him a number. Nair complied, and the fraudster informed him that they needed to inspect his bank account, ultimately persuading Nair to transfer Rs8.43 lakh from his ICICI bank to the fraudster's Punjab National Bank account.
