Thane man falls prey to digital surveillance scam, loses Rs 85 lakh

MUMBAI: An elderly man from Thane lost Rs 85 lakh in a cyber fraud where a scammer, posing as a south Delhi police officer, accused him of smuggling drugs to Singapore and sent him a fake arrest warrant. The scammer convinced the complainant that he was under surveillance and even got him to visit his bank and transfer money to "an account monitored by govt".

Following an FIR registered at Vartak Nagar police station and a call to cybercrime helpline '1930', Rs 6.3 lakh of the defrauded amount was blocked. Thane police found that the fraudsters had withdrawn around Rs 62 lakh from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

On Aug 7, around 10am, the complainant, a retired professional, received a phone call. The caller, who identified himself as Sunil Kumar from Vasant Kunj police station in south Delhi, said the Customs department had alerted Delhi police about a courier being sent to Singapore in the complainant's name. The parcel contained 16 passports, 58 ATM cards, and 140gm of drugs, Kumar claimed.

"After an audio call for a couple of minutes, Kumar made a WhatsApp video call and flashed his identity card on the screen," the complainant's son told TOI. Kumar also accused the complainant of human trafficking and told him he would have to come to Delhi. The complainant was sent copies of an arrest warrant and a court order for seizure of property, which later turned out to be fake.

"The video call lasted for two hours. My father was forbidden from speaking to any family member and was asked to lock himself in his room," the complainant's son said. On Kumar's instructions, the complainant opened a banking app on his phone and took a screenshot of his account balance. After he shared the screenshot, Kumar told him to transfer Rs 85 lakh to "an account monitored by govt". Kumar added that if the complainant was found to be innocent, his money would be refunded in the next 48 hours.

"My father was terrified. In a daze, he went to his bank and completed the bank transfer as instructed by the scammer. It was only the next day when he got no further updates on his case, did he realise that something was amiss and confided in my mother," the complainant's son said. They then approached the police.


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