This fake Mumbai police ID has been used to defraud many people. The picture is of a real police officer from the Mumbai Crime Branch, but all other details are fake.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Cyber fraudsters masquerading as "Mumbai Crime Branch" accused a homemaker of money laundering and conned her out of Rs 5 lakh, according to a police complaint lodged in southern Bengaluru.
The 35-year-old resident of Rajapura, near Jigani, fell prey to a fraud, reportedly perpetrated through the misuse of her Aadhaar number and email.
Her ordeal began after she received an automated phone call at 9.05 am on September 7 and was asked to press 1 to retrieve her "cancelled consignment".
She thought one of her e-commerce packages might have been lost. Once she pressed 1, a man who gave his name as Ajay called her. He spoke fluent English and introduced himself as a "FedEx representative". He said her Taiwan-bound package was confiscated by the "Mumbai customs" because it contained 150 grams of MDMA, an illicit drug, among other things.
Perplexed, the woman said she hadn't sent the package, but the caller insisted it was hers because it contained her name, email, phone number and Aadhaar. After her protestations, the caller said her personal documents were likely misused. He asked her to come to Mumbai to give a statement and clear her name.
When the victim said she couldn't travel to Mumbai, she was asked to give a video statement to the "Mumbai Crime Branch" on Skype. Speaking Hindi, the second caller introduced himself as Naresh and even sent her his "identification".
He said her documents were used for sending Hawala money as they were linked to a joint bank account belonging to Imran Malik, a suspected militant. She was threatened with an account freeze if she didn't transfer all the money to "the account of Mumbai Crime Branch". She was promised she would get it back soon. During this entire conversation, the Skype caller didn't switch on his camera.
The homemaker transferred Rs 5,00,985 to the ICICI Bank account number 756605000785, which belonged to Kantipudi Veera Raghav, "an officer of the Mumbai Crime Branch", but was later traced to Andhra Pradesh.
The fraudster's phone number was later found unreachable, prompting the homemaker to file a complaint at the Jigani police station.
"I felt trapped," she told DH. "The fraudster was continuously on call. I lost my life's savings in just an hour and a half."
According to her, she had submitted her Aadhaar copy and email at an enrolment camp at her apartment complex. Several residents are said to have received similar phone calls.
An officer close to the investigation said they sent a letter to the bank concerned on Friday, but refused to give further details. "Investigations are under way," the officer said.
For now, Jigani police have taken up the case under IPC Section 420 (cheating) and other relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.