On the prowl: Fake ‘police’ cheat women online, threaten to foist cases under narcotics

Cyber frauds are calling women from unknown numbers claiming to be customs officials or the police, and extorting money from them

The next time you get a call from unknown numbers claiming to be customs officials or the police, do not entertain them; they are cyber frauds on the prowl. They will trap you and extort money after threatening to file cases against you. Such incidents are on the rise of late and the cyber crime police have registered three cases in a span of two days.

Garima Sanoria, 30, a homemaker from Sanjaynagar, received a call from an unknown number on Wednesday. The caller claimed to be an officer from the “customs and narcotics department” and informed her that there was a parcel in her name from Taiwan containing narcotics and suggested that she contact the Mumbai branch of cyber crime police for any dispute .

Before Garima could react, she got another call from a person identifying himself as Naresh Gupta Bananji from Mumbai cyber crime branch, who started questioning her and even forwarded a notice. Garima tried to reason with him, but the accused asked her for her Aadhaar and bank details on the pretext of initiating legal action.

Later, on the pretext of helping to bail her out from the situation, the “officer” asked her to transfer a total of ₹1.23 lakh online. The cheating came to light when Ms. Garima shared the details with her family and relatives and tried to call the numbers back, but they were not reachable.

Similarly, Nidhi A.J., a 26-year-old woman from Banashankari, filed a complaint with the south division cyber crime police that she had been cheated by a conman posing as Mumbai police. In her complaint, Nidhi said she received a call from an unknown number informing that she has a parcel in her name from Taiwan.

A few minutes later, she got another call with the person identifying himself as Mumbai police from the narcotics division informing Ms. Nidhi that the parcel contained narcotics and threatened to file a case against her. He extorted ₹84,572 online from her in the guise of “helping her out.”

In another incident, Mouna Khanna, a 44-year-old homemaker from Yelahanka, was also cheated by a conman posing as an executive of a private courier service and a police officer on Tuesday. The accused called her informing that she had a courier in her name from Taiwan which contained 50 grams of drugs.