61-year-old woman loses ₹6.56 lakh to Cyber fraud

61-year-old woman cheated by cyber frauds posing as Customs and Delhi police officials. Transferred ₹6.56 lakh for verification of bank accounts, promised refund. Case registered.

MUMBAI: A 61-year-old woman was cheated by unknown cyber frauds posing as officials of the Customs department and that of the Delhi police. The police said the woman got a call claiming that they were speaking from the Customs department and her name had been used for drugs smuggling from Delhi to Cambodia and told her Aadhar number to impress upon her that they were genuine Customs officials. The frauds then told her that her bank accounts were also used for money laundering and that she should get it verified by transferring ₹6.56 lakh from her account, which they promised would be refunded after verification.

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A case has been registered by the police based on the complaint lodged by the woman, Menu Handa, 61, a resident of Bhakti Park in Wadala East.

According to the police, the 61-year-old woman sustains on income from rent. On April 15, she got a video call from somebody who claimed that he was speaking from the Customs department.

The caller told her that using her details like Aadhar Card, a parcel was sent from Delhi to Cambodia that had drugs concealed in it. “They even told her Aadhar card number to impress upon her that the caller was a Customs official and that her Aadhar card had been misused. When the complainant denied that she was involved in any kind of drug trafficking, the caller told her to come to Delhi and lodge a case with the local police,” said a police officer.

“Soon after the conversation was over, she got a call from some other unknown persons, who claimed to be Delhi police crime branch officials. They told her that her bank accounts were compromised for money laundering, and she should get the accounts verified from the Reserve Bank of India and instructed her that the refundable charge for the same was ₹6.56 lakh,” the officer added.

Apprehensive about legal action, the woman went to her home branch in Kandivali and transferred the money via RTGS to the bank accounts provided by the accused persons, who were continuously in touch with her till the amount was transferred and even helped her in completing the transfer, the officer added.

“When the complainant reached home, she narrated the entire episode to her daughter, who had reached home by then. Her daughter told her that she was cheated after which they approached the Wadala TT police and based on her complaint, an FIR was registered. We have registered an offence against unknown people under sections 419 (personation for cheating) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act,” said the police officer.