Bengaluru woman told drug peddlers using her identity, duped of Rs 98,000

BENGALURU: A 31-year-old Bengaluru woman lost Rs 98,000 to fake policemen who claimed to be from Mumbai crime branch. The fraudsters claimed that a drug syndicate was allegedly couriering narcotics consignments in her name and offered to help her nail the culprits.
An FIR in this regard has been filed with East CEN crime station.
Around 9am on March 1, Ramani, who works in the hotel industry in Bengaluru, received a call claiming to be from the customer care of FedEx, a US-based multinational transport and e-commerce company. A woman who claimed to be speaking from Fedex care told Ramani that a package she had sent from Mumbai to Taiwan had been sent back to the megapolis. A clueless Ramani responded in shock: "I have not sent any parcel from Mumbai to Taiwan."
The fake customer care representative asked for Ramani's Aadhaar card details, which the latter declined to share. "I had a strong suspicion that it was a fraud call. To verify their authenticity, I asked her to give details of my Aadhaar card as she informed me about the package being sent. I was shocked when she read out my unique identification number accurately. The caller said Fedex security had flagged the presence of 8 grams of MDMA inside the consignment bag," she said.
Ramani said she slowly started believing the caller. The woman on the other side said someone is using her identity to smuggle drugs and she will be transferring the call to their legal team. The call was transferred to a person claiming to be from a law firm. The man told Ramani that she had to file a complaint with Mumbai police and immediately leave Bengaluru.
"I was at work and was not in a position to leave for Mumbai and I conveyed the same to the legal team."
The legal team then transferred the call to what it said was the Mumbai crime branch. A person claiming to be from the Mumbai crime branch picked the call and told Ramani that he will file a complaint on her behalf and start probing the matter. The 'cop' later called Ramani on Skype. The man was dressed like a cop. Ramani, meanwhile received a mail informing her that the complaint from her had been registered. The 'cop' asked Ramani for her Aadhaar number and bank statement of three months. The same was forwarded to a mail ID he read out to Ramani.
Ramani said during the call, she could hear phones ringing and people talking and she thought she had been talking to Mumbai police control room staff. At one point, she also heard a man talking on a wireless set about her case. The person on the video call said they are tracking the suspect's account and for further tracking she had to transfer money.
"I was scared to transfer the money but he said it was the procedure. I ended up sending Rs 98,000. The call went on for another half an hour as he kept on asking for more cash. When I was about to pay, my boss entered my cabin as I had sent a text to a colleague about the call. My boss told me not to transfer money as it was a fake call. The fake cop immediately disconnected the call," she said. Ramani filed a complaint the next day.