Posing as an officer with the narcotics division of the Mumbai police, a man cheated an IISc student of ₹1.3 lakh after threatening to foist a case under the NDPS Act, on Friday.
The fraud came to light when the victim, identified as Parul Yadav, discussed the issue with her friends on the hostel campus and realised that she had been cheated.
Based on the complaint, the police registered a case against the unknown individual, charging him under various sections of the IT Act, 2000; efforts are on to track him down through the contact number and bank account, to which the money had been transferred.
Ms. Yadav, in her complaint, said she received a call from a person impersonating a FedX employee. The caller told her that there was a package in her name and it contained illegal items, and it could be a case of identity theft. He informed her that as part of the procedure he had intimated the narcotics division of the Mumbai police, where another person asked her to join a Skype call to record her statement.
During the conversation, the accused provided some fake documents from the CBI and the RBI to make her believe that they were policemen. After gaining her confidence, the accused took her bank statement and asked to send money to verify her bank accounts. Trusting the accused, Ms. Yadav transferred ₹1,34,650 to an YES Bank account, ending with the number 5623, in Mumbai. As soon as the transaction was completed, the accused disconnected the call and become incommunicado.
The victim told the police that the accused was impersonating a Mumbai narcotics division officer and threatened her with consequences for the illegal supply of MDMA. She got scared and transferred the money, the victim told the police.
The police probing the case said it was a modus operandi used by fraudsters to scare people and extort money. They requested people not to entertain calls from unidentified people and report the matter immediately to 112 for further help.
