How scammers are targeting vulnerable and desperate during India's COVID crisis

"We desperately tried to find a hospital bed for a week. Two private hospitals asked us for a million rupees ($13,800) in advance," Komal, her voice cracking on the phone, told AFP. "Then we came across a contact online promising an oxygen cylinder delivery within an hour of making the 15,000 rupees payment. When we did, they asked for more money, and then stopped responding," Komal added.

Chandrakant, 36, who worked at the stock market, died on May 1, leaving his homemaker wife looking for a job to help look after his ailing parents. India has a long history of audacious scams ripping off ordinary people, including beyond its borders. In just one typical case, in December police busted a call centre that allegedly defrauded 4,500 Americans out of $14 million.

One elaborate scam involving police and doctors that emerged in 2019 saw hundreds of villagers in Haryana declared dead in road accidents to claim insurance. Investigators say many scammers have turned their attention to ripping off desperate Covid-19 patients and relatives as India suffers a devastating coronavirus surge. Narang, a private company executive in Noida, said he was swindled by a sophisticated scam when he was desperately looking for an oxygen concentrator for a sick friend.

"These criminals saw it as an opportune moment to make an entry," senior Delhi police officer Shibesh Singh told AFP. His Crime Branch teams have already arrested many scammers, including a gang that made and sold counterfeit doses of the antiviral drug Remdesivir for up to 40 times the market price. "These people were producing fake vials which cost them about 20 rupees and (they) sold it in the market for anything above 10,000 rupees," Singh said.