The Bhoiwada police are probing a case in which a 27-year-old resident doctor in the city was duped of Rs 2.36 lakh under the pretext of paying customs duty to secure the release of a gift purportedly sent for him by an NRI woman who had befriended him online.
The woman claimed that she had sent a gift for the resident doctor, but that it was stuck at the customs office in Delhi and customs duty would have to be paid for its release. The doctor transferred the amount in a series of transactions, only to later realise that he had been duped. Bhoiwada police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology (IT) Act.
The complainant, a third-year resident doctor at Seth GS Medical College, KEM Hospital, who did not wish to be named, said in his complaint that he had befriended an NRI woman, Manisha, through Instagram and soon began chatting on WhatsApp as well.
"On July 5, Manisha informed me about a gift parcel she was sending to my hostel, and that it was stuck at the Delhi Airport Customs office. In a bid to release the parcel, she said she would have to pay a customs clearance charge of Rs 36,000. At first, I ignored it, believing that Manisha was only keeping me informed," said the complainant.
Two days later, on July 7, Manisha made a WhatsApp call to the complainant, informing him that the customs clearance fees had to be paid that very day, and requested him to do so, promising to return the money as soon as possible. Believing Manisha, the complainant agreed. At around 11.15am, he received a call from one Anup Kumar, who introduced himself as a Customs Officer and asked him to wire Rs 36,950 to clear the package, following which the complainant obliged and made the transfer via Google Pay.
"Soon after this transaction, I received another call from Kumar, informing that an additional Rs 1,99,500 had to be paid as customs clearance charge. Since I did not have that amount at hand, I managed to wire Rs 50,000 from my account, asking two of my friends to wire Rs 1 lakh and Rs 49,500 to Kumar via Google Pay. Even after paying Rs 2,36,450, Kumar called again and asked for more money, which raised an alarm and I realised that I have been duped," said the resident doctor.
The 27-year-old doctor then went to the bank and later approached the Bhoiwada Police to lodge a complaint.
In case you are a victim of cyber fraud:
▪︎Immediately alert the local police station or call the 24x7 Cyber Helpline-- 9820810007 set up to prevent and tackle Cyber Crime.
▪︎For bank frauds, immediately alert the concerned bank, block the card and fill a dispute form. If a fraud is reported within 24 hours of crime, it becomes the responsibility of the concerned stakeholder to recover the money.
▪︎Never share your bank details, debit/credit card number, and One Time Password (OTP).
While alerting bank, keep following documents handy --
•Bank statement of the last six months
•A copy of SMSs received related to the alleged transactions
•Identity and address proof as shown in the bank records
