Cyber crooks targeted a Bengaluru-based doctor and two software engineers. They made away with ₹63.2 lakh in separate incidents in a courier scam, which is giving the cyber crime police sleepless nights.
The doctor, a resident of Koramangala, in her complaint to southeast cyber crime police on Thursday, said she received a call from an unknown person claiming to be the executive of a courier company and informed her that there was a parcel in her name containing banned items. Before she could try to reason, the caller asked her to download an app for further conversation telling her that there are around 36 bank accounts found in her name.
Shocked, she tried to deny the allegation for which the caller, on the pretext of cross-checking her bank accounts, availed the details and withdrew ₹7.6 lakh. The fraud came to light when she started getting messages of online transactions and tried to contact the person, but in vain.
Similarly, a 48-year-old resident of Begur complained to southeast police on Friday, November 17, that he was cheated by a conman of ₹29.6 lakh posing as a courier company executive. The caller told him that there was a parcel to Taiwan from Mumbai in his name which contained banned items. The caller also informed him that his Aadhaar details were being misused by terror suspects and obtained bank account details for verification. Before he could realise, the accused had transferred all the savings from his bank account and went incommunicado.
A software engineer from Devarabisanahalli was earlier cheated in similar fashion on Wednesday. He told the Whitefield cyber crime police that the caller initially introduced himself as an executive from the courier company and later, his associate called him claiming that he was a police officer from the Mumbai crime branch and narrated the same story on a parcel with banned items to Taiwan and accused him of money laundering. The accused took the details of his bank accounts on the pretext of verification and transferred a total of ₹26.2 lakh.
“It is natural for any person to panic when they get such calls accusing them of money laundering and illegal parcel. However, people should stay calm and not share any personal details as no officer either from the bank or from the police are authorised to seek personal details, that too over the phone,” a senior police officer part of the investigation said.
Moreover, there are awareness campaigns on social media about the courier scam alerting people not to fall prey to such calls, he added.
On Friday, City Police Commissioner B. Dayananda set up special task forces led by DCP rank officers to probe the growing number of cyber crime cases, one of which will probe courier scams in the city.
