Representative image of cyber scam.
Credit: iStock Photo
Udupi: A man lost Rs 20 lakh after a caller impersonating himself as a courier service person claimed that the parcel sent by the man contained banned items.
In a complaint to Malpe police, the victim Dhanush said that on November 7 at 4:52 pm, a person named Akash Verma, claiming to be from FedEx called him posing as a courier representative.
The caller informed Dhanush that a parcel he had allegedly sent contained two kg of clothes, four expired passports, four debit cards, one laptop, and 420 grams of MDMA drugs. The caller claimed that the package was with the NCB in Mumbai and that it was addressed to a person named Arman Ali.
The caller later instructed Dhanush to join a Skype video call for police clearance, during which he was asked to submit copies of his Aadhaar Card and bank statement for verification. Under the pretext of verifying documents, the caller then gained access to Dhanush’s ICICI Bank iMobile app and directed him to transfer a personal loan amount of Rs 20 lakh to an account specified by the fraudster. Following the instructions, Dhanush transferred a total of Rs 20 lakh and realised later that he had been scammed.
Based on a complaint, Malpe Police have registered a case under Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act, and Section 318(3) BNS. The investigation is in progress.
Woman loses Rs 1.94 lakh
In a separate case, a woman has lost Rs 1,94,529 in the name of a part-time job in Udupi.
In a complaint to Udupi CEN station, Archana said that she searched online for part-time job opportunities and clicked on a link about such jobs on Instagram. Following this, she received messages on WhatsApp offering a part-time job under the name "Amazon freshers job in India", which promised profits in exchange for completing tasks and investing money.
Believing them, Archana was persuaded to transfer funds to various UPI IDs provided by the fraudsters. Between October 18 and October 24, she transferred a total of Rs 1,94,529. However, when she failed to receive the promised returns, she realised that she had been duped. A complaint has been registered under Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act, and Section 318(4) BNS.