Mumbai: Cyber fraud in police uniform on video call, man duped of Rs 3 lakh

A first information report (FIR) has been registered in the matter by the Borivali police on April 13. The man told the police that on April 7, he received a phone call from a woman named Swati Patil who said she was calling from a Delhi passport office. “She told me that she was checking my details and asked me to take out my Aadhaar card. She correctly read out my name, birthdate and Aadhaar card number. Then she read a passport number but I told her that I do not have any passport,” the complainant said.

According to the FIR, the woman told the complainant that he had been to Thailand on March 30 and did some illegal work and the passport office had received a complaint from the immigration department. “I told her I do not have a passport. How will I go abroad? I have never been to any state but Maharashtra and Gujarat. She then told me that I am innocent and someone had misused my documents to make a new passport,” the man said in his complaint.

The woman told him that he needed to write a letter and post it to the Delhi crime branch, according to the FIR. Then another man came on the line, picked up and introduced himself as Sunil Kumar Naik from the Delhi crime branch and asked him how he could help, the complainant said.

“I narrated what Patil told me and Naik also said I am innocent. Naik then made a Whatsapp video call. I picked up the call and saw he was in a police uniform. He said there is an arrest warrant against me. He sent me a web link and asked me to check which case is registered against me by entering my Aadhaar number. I clicked on the link and entered my number and a page got opened which showed there was an arrest warrant against me for money laundering, drugs and human trafficking,” the man told the police.

In the warrant, it was written that he must be immediately arrested and his and his family’s properties must be seized, he the man the police. “I told them I am innocent after which he asked me to speak to his senior Ashutosh Patel. Patel said a wanted criminal named Ranjan Kumar had forged my forged documents. He said I will have to file an FIR for which money will be needed. They asked me to deposit Rs 3 lakh in a bank account and added that the money will be refunded in 49 hours,” he said.

After paying the money a clearance certificate was sent to him on WhatsApp. The man waited for 48 hours but did not get a refund. He tried calling on the numbers but no one picked up. He realised he was duped and approached the police.