The Cyber Crimes department of Hyderabad city police have witnessed an increase in complaints of the package delivery scam. An unsuspecting victim would receive a phone call about a packed parcel being sent for an international delivery by them has been flagged.
The ‘official’ would then inform them of how the parcel with their name contains contraband material and other incriminating documents, causing a panic which is used well by the scammers who start an elaborate chain of phone calls to the victim. Officials said that the crooks have forged legal documents, warrants and ID cards which can easily fool a layman.
DCP Cyber Crimes Hyderabad City Police Sneha Mehra said that on an average, four to five complaints were being received per day in the last few months.
Explaining the modus operandi, she said that the scamsters prey on the victim’s fear of being involved in a major fraud deal and use it to extort as much as they can within a short time. “They start a chain of calls of ‘officials’ explaining the seriousness of the matter. They create an urgency for the victim to appear at the ‘cyber cell’ office of a different State in a short time. When the person says that they cannot make the trip in the given time, they claim to solve the issue over the phone and start extracting bank details to siphon money,” she explained.
DCP Cyber Crimes Rachakonda Commissionerate B. Anuradha said that one of the victims, a homemaker, had lost ₹6 lakh within an hour. “They asked her to lock herself in a room and demanded that she must not speak to anyone during their phone calls. They made a video call and realising how scared she was, they sent multiple OTPs in the name of ‘verifying’ her details and emptied the bank accounts,” said the DCP.
Although the details of the scam were highlighted on viral and elaborate threads on social media platforms earlier this year, victims continue to fall prey. In one such case, a user had posted on Twitter (X) that her caller conveyed how there was a package attached to her Aadhar ID that had been flagged because it contained illegal items. “I allegedly sent the package on December 13, 2022, from Mumbai to Taiwan and it contains 3 Kg of textiles, 5 Credit Cards, 11 Passports, 2 pairs of shoes and...wait for it... 800 gm of weed. I haven’t sent any such parcel through FedEx, and I don’t live in Bombay.,” she tweeted.
Officials asked the public not to believe in such calls claiming to have a parcel with their name on it containing suspicious items. “One should immediately hang up and call up the helpline number ‘1930’ to lodge a complaint if they threaten with any ‘legal action’,” said the Cyber Crimes officials.
