Cyber Fraud: Delhi doctor swindled out of Rs 4.5 crore
New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a 34-year-old female doctor became the victim of Delhi's biggest cybercrime losing Rs 4.5 crore to cyber fraudsters pretending to be from Mumbai police, narcotics division and DCP level officers.
The doctor's scam started with a phone call about a 'FedEx package being seized'. The woman was told that the drug 'MDMA' was found in her package that was seized and that she was a recipient of narco money.
The fraudsters talked to the doctor several times on Skype. Some would come posing as a policeman and some would call themselves officers of the Reserve Bank of India. To make the fraud appear genuine, the fraudsters were put on Skype calls posing as Customs and Narcotics officials.
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According to the victim, the incident took place on May 5 at around 10.39 am when she received a call on her mobile from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be from FedEx and said that her parcel had been seized and that she should dial 1 for details. She was told there were my passport, banking documents, two pair of shoes, 140 gm MDMA and clothes in it.
The callers claimed that the parcel was to go from Mumbai to Taiwan. It was booked on 21 Apr 2023. Following this, the doctor was forced to pay Rs 25,025 plus GST and the transaction was made via an ICICI credit card.
When the doctor said she did not know about any courier, the caller asked her to complain to the Andheri police station. Then the call was transferred to some 'Inspector Smita Patil'. 'Inspector Patil advised to file a complaint online and download Skype app.
"The woman claiming to be Inspector Patil connected with me on my newly created Skype ID and then I received a Skype call with profile ID Mumbai Andheri East cyber Crime. I was then asked to give a recorded statement on this ID. She put me on the call and spoke to someone and tried to confirm my Aadhaar ID for any other misuse," the victim informed TOI.
While the doctor was waiting on the call, she overheard the conversation that her ID has been misused for opening 23 bank accounts in Mumbai and flagged for money laundering. Taking advantage of her vulnerability, the woman posing as the inspector said that many crimes would be investigated against the doctor and she would have to be arrested.
However, the fraudsters claimed that the charges could be avoided if she share some documents with them. The doctor was asked to provide snapshots of her bank accounts with the balance and disclose her entire financial details. The victim was diving deep into the web of lies and broke her fixed deposits for seizure and verification on the instructions of the caller.
The 'policemen' present on the call advised to break the fixed deposit for seizure and verification. The doctor broke the FD of 1.15 crores and was then asked to go to the branch located at Gopinath Bazar for the rest. The victim was told not to involve anyone, not even her husband, as he too would be considered an accomplice in the crime.
Now DCP Bal Singh Rajput has taken over the command. The doctor was asked to fill out the RTGS form and she was forwarded to another call from a new Skype ID named 'Maharashtra Narcotics Division'. An officer who described himself as an officer of the Reserve Bank of India also joined.
The doctor was told that the money deposited in his account was illegal and should be transferred to the RBI account. The fraudsters said that the amount will be refunded after verification. A complaint was sent to the doctor on the letterhead of the Mumbai Police. A letter from RBI also came along with it. The woman was then asked to share the screenshot of a transaction of Rs 1 crore. After that another transfer of Rs 90 lakh took place.
The lady doctor was forced to take her husband's signature. Then broke the joint FD and got that amount transferred as well. When a total of Rs 4.73 crore was transferred, the woman was told to wait for the RBI clearance report.
The fraudsters also told the doctor that they will generate a new Aadhaar ID for her as the previous one was blocked. She was also asked to delete all Skype conversations. After waiting four days for her money to be refunded, the doctor received no information from the fake "Mumbai narcotics division". Later, she received two "clearance certificates" stating that her accounts were in order and that no illegal transactions were detected.
Following this, the victim approached the police and narrated her incident following which the Delhi Police registered an FIR and initiated a technical probe in the case.
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