Online scams, also referred to as internet scams, are becoming increasingly common. In order to mislead their potential victims, fraudsters often capitalise on fear or greed for money. In one such recent incident, a 60-year-old woman from southwest Delhi was allegedly defrauded of about Rs 5 lakh by a bunch of online scamsters.
The fraudsters reportedly first scared the victim by falsely linking her with Khalistani terror organisations and drug peddlers and then preyed on this fear to dupe her. When the victim realised that she was tricked, she approached the police to report the cyber fraud on May 29.
According to the FIR filed in the case, the victim received a call from a man who identified himself as working for a reputable courier company. He informed her that she had scheduled a courier to Canada, but there were some issues. “I told him that I had not booked any courier because I do not know anyone in Canada. Then he said there must be some terrorist conspiracy behind it. He specifically used the word Khalistani,” the victim said in her complaint.
“He asked me to immediately lodge an FIR and also offered to connect me to someone in Amboli police station (in Mumbai),” she added.
The caller connected the victim to Sibb Shejol after she agreed to accept his assistance. Shejol assured the victim through a video call that he had filed an FIR and forwarded the case to the crime branch.
Shejol then connected the woman to his superior over a conference call, who urged Shejol to detain the woman right away on suspicion that she was part of a terror plot.
Shejol also told the woman that an account was opened in her name in Mumbai with her PAN and Aadhaar number.
The woman insisted that all accusations levelled at her were false and that she was innocent, however, in order to give the whole operation an even more sinister look, Shejol informed the hapless woman that Nishant C Shukla, a public prosecutor, had been chosen by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to look into her case.
Shukla showed his Bar Council card to the victim to win her trust after Shejol persuaded her to speak with him. Shukla then provided her with the photographs and Aadhaar cards of three other special officers, informing her that they had been hired for her and her family’s protection since there could a threat to her life.
The FIR further stated that Shukla went on to explain to the victim that they had found that the case pertained to a banker named Vipul Jain who had defrauded the government of 450 crore rupees.
“They told me that Jain was into terrorism and drugs and that 80 others like me were involved in this case. I was accused of getting some per cent of the commission out of this fraud.
“He said to save me from this case, he needed to file an affidavit for my anticipatory bail which has to go to 10 departments in Mumbai,” the woman said, adding that she was also asked to come to Mumbai to join the probe.
When the complainant declined, the accused claimed he would have to spend Rs 1.5 lakh on three bond papers costing Rs 5,000 each for each of the ten departments, plus an additional Rs 45,780 for notary, affidavit, and stamp fees, for a total of Rs 1,95,780.
He went on to request an additional Rs. 1,08,000 after she had already paid the initial sum in order to type some papers.
“I made that payment of Rs 1,08,000 to save myself from the arrest, money laundering and the drug trafficking charges, and all the humiliation. The accused also asked me not to discuss all this with any third person as it was a high-profile case under the PMO’s supervision,” she said.
The FIR stated that the victim ended up paying the fraudsters a total of Rs 4,99,560 after which she chose to report the matter to the police.
Speaking about the case, a police official said, “It is either fear or greed which makes people victims of cybercrime. These cyber criminals either lure people with lucrative offers to make quick money or create fear among them with false stories so that they can extort. People should immediately report such issues to local police for early tracking and recovery.”
Some similar cases of online scam
It may be recalled that only last month, a Delhi woman doctor had also become a victim of what is being seen as the biggest phishing scam on an individual in Delhi to date. According to a report by TOI, some fraudsters claiming to be from Maharashtra Narcotics Department duped the doctor of Rs 4.47 crores.
The fraudsters posed as police officials from the Andheri police station, RBI officials, a DCP from Mumbai Police, customs sleuths, and Narcotics division cops in order to defraud the victim.
In January this year, we reported about a Twitter user Geetika Rustagi who also narrated how she fell prey to one such online scam.
