Gang impersonates cops from Colaba Police Station, extorts money

“We decided to register a case after the police station was getting calls regularly from victims cheated by frauds using the names of a few fake cops attached to the Colaba Police Station,” said an officer.

Mumbai: Off late, Colaba Police Station has been receiving several calls enquiring about a few non-existent officers who have been cheating people using the names of police officers. A case was registered regarding the same against unknown frauds on Monday.

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“We decided to register a case after the police station was getting calls regularly from victims cheated by frauds using the names of a few fake cops attached to the Colaba Police Station,” said an officer.

Some of the victims had called the landline number and enquired whether an officer named Bhupendra Nagar was posted at the Colaba Police Station, said the officer, adding, “People are getting calls, purportedly from an international courier company, stating that they had received a parcel in the name of the victim and it needed to be delivered to him or her.”

However, later they informed the victims that the parcel was withheld, as it contained some contraband or a prohibited item and that they would be reporting the parcel to the nearest police station – the Colaba police station.

“They would then inform the victims that since their documents like PAN card and Aadhar card had been used for booking the parcel, he or she would be in legal trouble,” said the officer. “The fraud then claims to have given the parcel to a police officer, Nagar, who then makes a video call to the victim in which he is seen sitting in uniform and the location, too, looks like a police station.”

The gang then extorts money from the victims by threatening to initiate legal action against them, said the officer, adding, “In most of the cases, the victims have been given landline numbers of the Colaba Police Station, to impress upon them that they are not fake policemen. We apprehend that the gang duped a few people and therefore we have registered a case.”

The case was registered under sections 170 (personating a public servant), 171 (wearing garb or carrying a token used by a public servant with fraudulent intent), 34 (common intention), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The police said things would become clear after an arrest is made. “As there are no caller IDs on the police station landline numbers, we could not trace all the victims, but several of them have called using the name of Nagar,” said the officer. “Some of the victims are prominent businessmen from South Mumbai.”