A 35-year-old Delhi-based doctor fell prey to scammers who posed as FedEx personnel and Mumbai Police cyber crime officers and extorted money under the pretext of a fake drugs parcel in her name, police officers said on Monday. The woman was forced to stay on a video call with one of the suspects for three hours during which he monitored all her movements and made her transfer money from one of her bank accounts, officers said.
The Delhi Police said that the doctor is the latest victim of the “FedEx scam” which is being reported from across the country. Last week, a Bengaluru-based woman who’s working as a lawyer was cheated of more than ₹15 lakh and also forced to strip on a video call for a “narcotics test”. The Delhi Police think that the same suspects targeted both women.
The doctor lives in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur and said that the incident took place on April 6. The suspect called her and said a parcel that had come in her name from abroad had been seized by customs officials at Mumbai airport. He said that the parcel contained “five illegal passports, three credit cards, 5 kg clothes and 200 gm MDMA drugs”, officers said.
The woman, in her complaint to the Delhi Police, said she told the suspect she didn’t have any connection to the parcel but was then connected with another suspect. “I was connected to a man who posed as an inspector in the Mumbai cyber cell. The officer had my Aadhaar card number and said my name was being used to create multiple bank accounts in Mumbai, Goa, and Bengaluru. He said that there are three money laundering and a drugs case registered against my name,” the woman told HT.
The woman was then asked to come on a Skype call for “verification”. In the FIR, the woman alleged she was forced to stay on the video call with the suspect for three hours.
“The man on the call said he was DCP Bal Singh Thakur from Mumbai Police. He said that a criminal who’s involved in drugs and money laundering cases had accessed my details and made all those accounts. He sent me two official letters saying that I would have to empty 98% of my bank balance as police need to check the money and its source,” the woman said.
The woman followed the instructions and said she had “no other option” as the accused constantly watched all her moves and didn’t allow her to disconnect or pause the video call. The woman was pressed to transfer ₹5.10 lakhs to a bank account in Mumbai. The woman said she was promised that she would receive the money back in 15 minutes, but did not get it. “They threatened that they have my address and (can) pick (me) up from (my) house and that I am named in a money laundering case and narcotics case. He said what happened with Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan can happen to me too or worse…” the FIR said.
Based on a complaint from the woman, an FIR was registered against unidentified suspects at cyber police station on April 6 under Indian Penal Code sections of cheating.
A senior police officer said they are trying to zero in on the culprits.
