Mumbai: A 35-year-old software engineer was allegedly duped to the tune of Rs 19 lakh by scammers posing as officials from the "Mumbai Narcotics Cell" and claiming that she was being investigated after a 'parcel' of hers containing illegitimate articles and drugs destined for Iran had been intercepted.
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Pune. On April 04, the victim received a phone call from a person claiming to be calling from a courier company office in Andheri. The caller told the victim that a parcel of hers destined for Iran had been examined and it contained passports, two credit cards, a laptop, clothes and 750 grams of MDMA drugs.
The caller informed the victim that they had complained to the narcotics department about the said parcel and told the victim to get a Personal Clearance Certificate (PCC) from the investigating agency. The victim's phone call was then transferred to another person who claimed to be a Mumbai Police officer and also shared his police ID card with the victim.
The scammer then induced the victim to follow his instructions and select a personal loan option from her mobile banking app. The victim, who was frightened by the entire episode, followed the instructions and got a Rs 20 lakh personal loan in her bank account. The scammer then asked the victim to transfer Rs 19 lakh in a bank account number provided by him and told the victim that she would get PCC in an hour.
The victim suspected something amiss about the incident and informed her husband about the same, who told her that she had been duped by the scammers. She then approached the police and got an offence registered in the matter.
The police have registered a case under sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 170 (personating a public servant), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and 66C (identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
