The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) unearthed a racket wherein several people were duped of crores of rupees through fake calls from fraudsters pretending to be officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Police and Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The EOW has frozen 17 bank accounts in this connection. It has revealed that the fraudster gang operated from Dubai.
Posing as Mumbai NCB officer, a fraudster duped a woman of Rs 1.5 lakh. The matter came to light after Ratna Tripathy, a resident of the Nayapalli area in Bhubaneswar, lodged a complaint. He blackmailed her through a fake RBI letter, posing as CBI officer and IPS officer. Afraid of legal action, she gave him the money.
“I got a call from a courier company regarding parcel. They said that your parcel has been seized by an NCB official due to objectionable instruments. I heard them for five minutes. After that they connected me with Skype to the alleged NCB officials and duped money,” said Tripathy.
The investigation by the EOW revealed that a transaction of Rs 5.58 crore was carried out in their accounts within two-three days. The account money was withdrawn from an ATM in Dubai in the name of Jagdamba Enterprises.
EOW SP Dillip Tritpathy said: “It is a new trend. People need to beware of unknown callers.”