Mumbai: Man Falls Victim to Rs 8 Lakh Online Scam Involving Fake Smuggling Charges

In significant digital scam a  30-year-old youth living in Kalachowki was duped of eight lakhs by Sabair Bhamats by fearing 'digital arrest'. He was intimidated by being involved in drug trafficking and illegal transactions worth crores in his bank account. The victim was living in Byculla and was working with private company. As per the latest report on June 29 2024 he received a call from an unknown mobile number. The caller, claiming to be from a courier company in Andheri, informed the complainant that a package from Iran in his name was seized at the airport. The package allegedly contained 450 grams of MD, four expired Iranian passports, 4 kg of clothes, and five debit cards. The caller stated that the police had seized the package and then connected the complainant to someone posing as the Andheri police, who threatened him with arrest.

The complainant, who denies any involvement with the package, believes he is being defrauded. He was instructed to contact the Narcotics Control Bureau online via a provided Skype link to resolve the issue. The accused warned that video call should be private and no one should know about it. The person on the video call said that he was speaking from the Narcotics Control Bureau in Mumbai. The complainant's Aadhaar card was used to open fraudulent bank accounts. He was falsely informed that crores of rupees were being transacted through these accounts and, to verify the matter, was persuaded to temporarily transfer the funds from his legitimate account into a government account, with the promise of a later return. He maintains that he has no connection to the fraudulent accounts.

Following which the victim got scared and started following the persons instructions, he also shared the mobile screen. The complainant was asked to open the banking app on his mobile. At that time, his account had Rs 7 lakh 70 thousand. This amount was transferred by the cyber thug to the Jan Small Finance Bank account through RTGS. Later, Rs 1 lakh was transferred to another account through Google Pay.

An hour after the complainant contacted the cybercriminal, the phone was switched off. The complainant then discovered online that the courier company was fake but remained silent, fearing implication in a drug case. Eleven months later, the complainant finally filed a report at the Kalachowki police station, leading to a case being registered against the unknown cybercriminal under sections 420 and 419 for cheating, as well as sections 66(d) and 66(c) of the Information Technology Act.