Indians are Losing Lakhs in New Fraud: What is Courier Scam and How to Stay Safe | EXPLAINED – News18

A brand new rip-off is on the rise this yr fraudsters have been duping folks of lakhs of rupees whereas posing as customs officers throughout metro cities. In this new methodology, referred to as courier rip-off, the imposters posing as police officers or NCRB brokers contact folks accusing them of partaking in illicit actions associated to sending and receiving parcels containing medicine or different banned substances.

Then the scamsters persuade the victims that they are going to be contacted by police personnel and your entire racket of cash extortion begins to settle the false criticism in opposition to the victims. The courier rip-off has been concentrating on folks between 35 to 50 and there have been tons of of circumstances reported to the police this yr.

How Does the Scam Work?

Courier scammers declare to be customs officers and contact their targets over the cellphone. They point out a parcel booked in their identify and declare that it contained narcotic medicine or another banned substances.

Then they might impersonate an official from a police station to discuss to them about doable arrest. The sufferer, who has already been frightened, tries to ‘settle’ the false case by providing cash to keep away from arrest, which is transferred to the scamsters.

The scammers use psychological ways throughout calls to misery the victims and extract private identification and financial institution particulars. They ask the sufferer to give their Aadhaar and different identification particulars other than the financial institution data, thus duping cash from folks.

In different circumstances, it additionally begins with a missed name. When the particular person returns the decision, it is transferred to an automatic voice message informing that they’ve reached the helpline of a courier firm like Fedex or Blue Dart. Then the opposite particular person on the cellphone pretending to be a Mumbai police officer claiming unlawful medicine have been discovered in a parcel despatched to their handle. The scamster then blackmails the particular person into making a cost.

A Bengaluru resident was duped just lately of Rs 1.52 crore after he fell prey to the courier rip-off. Debashish Das, 66, acquired a cellphone name on November 10 from an individual who claimed to be a FedEx worker named Kartikeya.

The worker then knowledgeable Das {that a} case had been registered in opposition to him in Mumbai as a result of a courier despatched in his identify to Taiwan was discovered to include six bank cards, expired passports, and even 950g of MDMA medicine.

Das was advised to get in contact with the Andheri cybercrime police station in Mumbai on a Skype name. Then a faux police officer, Pradeep Sawant, advised him that financial institution accounts in his identify have been discovered to be concerned in criminal activity shut after which the scamsters managed to get all of the sufferer’s cash, together with his fastened deposits, value Rs 1.52 crore transferred to their account.

Courier Scam on Rise

Amid the rise in such circumstances of courier rip-off, banks and police have warned folks to pay attention to such fraud calls.

As many as 250 circumstances involving faux courier fraud have already been reported in Bengaluru this yr, in accordance to The Indian Express. The Bengaluru police has mentioned that the investigation of those circumstances together with three different varieties of widespread cyber fraud Aadhaar Enabled Payment Services fraud, WhatsApp sextortion and on-line job fraud could be prioritised for investigations.

The Pune metropolis cyber cell has reported seven circumstances associated to ‘courier scam’ in 2023. In Chennai, at the least 30 folks have been sufferer of the fraud in previous one month.

How to Stay Safe?

• Not offering any One Time Password (OTP), Aadhaar quantity, checking account data, or some other delicate information.
• Beware of unknown callers and folks impersonating financial institution, police or some other officers.
• Never name again on unknown or suspicious contacts.
• Rechecking or verifying the caller by way of official sources earlier than offering any particulars.
• Avoid clicking on suspicious hyperlinks acquired as textual content or on WhatsApp.
• Don’t act in haste. It’s all the time higher to take your time, collect data and seek the advice of with trusted people earlier than making any transactions.
• You can report the cybercrime criticism number- 155260 or you’ll be able to file a criticism on cybercrime.gov.in