Law firm employee loses ₹2.9 lakh to free iPhone fraud

The victim, Supriya Ghadi, who works for a compliance and labour law consulting firm in Lalbaug, was targetted by fraudsters, who called her after she had liked videos of Zam Zam Electronics Trending of Dubai on Instagram.

Mumbai: When this 37-year-old law firm employee liked the page of a Dubai-based electronics shop, little did she know that it would result in her being cheated to the tune of ₹2.9 lakh by fraudsters, who promised her a free iPhone 14 pro handset.

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The victim, Supriya Ghadi, who works for a compliance and labour law consulting firm in Lalbaug, was targetted by fraudsters, who called her after she had liked videos of Zam Zam Electronics Trending of Dubai on Instagram.

According to the complaint registered at Agripada police station, Ghadi, a resident of Chichpokli, was contacted by some unknown people via phone posing as employees of Zam Zam electronics.

What followed was a series of fraudulent offers and demands, which eventually ended up costing Ghadi a sum of ₹2.9 lakh.

A police officer said, “The fraudsters told her that she had won a free iPhone 14 Pro handset but said she will have to buy a ₹3,000 coupon to get it. The accused even sent a photo of the coupon to her. Ghadi paid him the money via Gpay.

“On May 17, the accused contacted her again and told her that she had also won an Apple Watch and headphones for which she will have to pay courier charges of ₹25,000. She transferred the amount accordingly,” said the officer.

They called her yet again and told her to transfer more money for iPhone registration and its fast delivery. Later, they told her that she had won one more set of the three Apple products — iPhone 14 Pro handset, Apple Watch and headphones, and she will have to pay ₹60,000 for the same.

“They then told her that Zam Zam has also offered her US$6,000 and told her that she will have to pay them ₹80,000 as fees for getting the dollars converted to Indian currency.

“Then they took ₹14,000 from her claiming it is for iPhone IDs. Later, they asked her to pay a Customs duty of ₹50,000 to get the goods. She ended up paying money for all the above claims,” said the police officer.

Keeping up with their demands, they asked Ghadi to pay ₹60,000 as security, however, as she was short of cash, she didn’t revert.

Later, a person called her and introduced himself as customs officer Raj Roy and demanded ₹5,000 claiming that she had cheated, and a wrong parcel had come for registration. He demanded ₹19,000 more, however, this time she realised that she was being cheated. She decided to approach the police.

“We have registered a case of impersonation and cheating under the Indian Penal Code and under various sections of the Information and Technology Act, 2000 against unknown men,” said the police officer.

“We have registered the offence based on her complaint. The accused were in touch with her till May 20 and we are trying to trace them,” said the police officer.