Mumbai woman duped of Rs 5 lakh by fraudsters posing as police officers
The woman, Kashmira Khan, said that the officers claimed that she was involved in drug smuggling and money laundering cases in connection with NCP leader Nawab Malik.
A 63-year-old woman from Mumbai was duped of Rs 5 lakh by fraudsters posing as IPS officers. (Representative picture)
In Short
- Fraudsters pose as fake IPS officers from Maharashtra and Punjab
- Tell woman she was involved in drug smuggling, money laundering
- Ask her to transfer Rs 5 lakh to verify her bank account details
A 63-year-old woman from Mumbai was duped of Rs 5 lakh by fraudsters posing as fake IPS officers from Maharashtra and Punjab.
In her complaint, the woman, Kashmira Khan, from Breach Candy in Mumbai, said the fraudsters claimed that she was involved in drug smuggling and money laundering cases in connection with NCP leader Nawab Malik.
Khan said she received a call from an unknown number on May 13. The caller said that there was a courier in her name from Iran that contained credit cards, soft toys and five passports. The caller also said 450 grams of MDMA drugs were found stuffed inside the soft toys.
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When Khan said she was not expecting any packages, the caller told her that the parcel was in her name, and they had her Aadhar card details. The caller then said the police would take over the matter.
Khan then received a Skype call from a woman, who identified herself as inspector Amneet Kondal from the cyber crime department of Sahar Police Station in Andheri East. Kondal also shared the picture of her identity card, which stated that she was an IPS officer from Punjab cadre.
Speaking to India Today TV, Kashmira Khan said, "I was shocked upon hearing the allegations and wanted to clarify as soon as possible that I had nothing to do with any drugs or Iran. The woman kept me on hold and said that she was going to hand over the call to DCP Milind Bharambe. All this while, she never switched on the camera."
Khan said the man who posed as the DCP sought her bank account details so that he could check her transactions.
"They even told me that they would give me a clearance certificate once the inquiry is completed on Skype itself," Khan said.
The "DCP" then asked her to transfer Rs 5 lakh to a bank account that he claimed was linked to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to verify her bank account.
"I did as they said as I was scared and transferred the amount, after which they said that I would get clearance and disconnected the call," Khan said.
Sensing something amiss, she rushed to the Sahar Police Station and found out that she was duped. She was asked to file a cyber crime complaint at the Gamdevi Police Station.
A case was registered against the fraudsters and an investigation is on.
Initial investigation revealed that the bank account of the fraudsters was registered in Karnataka's Bidar and the bank was informed about the incident.
Police officials said that they were able to recover a small amount of money.
Police said that several cases of miscreants using fake IDs of Bharambe, DCP Pradip Sawant and Amneet Kondal have been reported recently.
Notably, Milind Bharambe is the current Commissioner of Police of Navi Mumbai and not a DCP as the fraudster claimed. Similarly, Amneet Kondal is the current Senior Superintendent of Police of Khanna in Punjab.
Police officials said that they neither hold enquiries over calls nor do they ask for bank account details or OTP for any investigation.