CBI officer duped of ₹2 lakh by cyber frauds

CBI officer in Mumbai duped of ₹2 lakh by cyber fraudsters posing as Delhi Police, promising verification with RBI for a fake parcel case.

Mumbai: A 59-year-old officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been allegedly duped of ₹2 lakh by cyber fraudsters. The accused contacted the officer of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) rank in the last week of April. Posing as an official of the Delhi Police’s crime branch, the person told the officer that a parcel in his name comprising drugs and other unauthorised goods had arrived at the Delhi airport. He asked the officer to send him ₹2 lakh for a procedure requiring verification with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). While the officer paid the amount as requested, he realised later that he had been duped and approached the police, who registered a case against the accused based on his complaint, said police.

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The complainant is attached with the CBI’s Mumbai office at Bandra-Kurla Complex. According to the first information report, on April 26, the officer received a call from a man who identified himself as ‘Ashish Sharma’ from the Delhi police’s crime branch. Sharma claimed that a parcel addressed to the officer containing eight passports, five credit cards, 170 grams of the synthetic narcotic mephedrone and ₹45,000 in cash had arrived at Delhi airport from Cambodia on April 23.

While the officer told the caller that the parcel did not belong to him, he received a video call from a WhatsApp number registered as ‘Hello Delhi Crime Branch’ later the same day. During the call, which lasted 49 minutes, the caller was wearing a police uniform, and a Delhi Police logo was placed beside him. He said that the officer must have shared his Aadhaar details with someone who had misused the same and that he would be arrested in a money laundering case.

The accused checked the officer’s identity card and Aadhaar card during the WhatsApp call. He also sent the officer a purported notice from Delhi police. During a subsequent call, he told the officer that he needed to pay ₹3.15 lakh for a procedure requiring verification with the RBI. The money would be returned to him post verification, he was told.

On April 30, the CBI officer received another call from the accused; this time, they asked him to pay ₹2 lakh for the verification, which he complied with forthwith. He called the accused two days later to check if the verification was done and when he might get his money back. But the accused told him that the person who had misused his Aadhaar had been arrested and disconnected the call. The officer discussed the incident with his colleague on May 4 and realised that he had been duped.

The CBI officer then approached the BKC police station, where a case was registered against the unidentified accused based on his complaint, said senior inspector Raghunath Kadam from the BKC police station.