Woman duped of Rs 80 lakh by fraudsters posing as executives of courier firm, govt agencies

Thane, April 3

A 63-year-old woman from Navi Mumbai has allegedly been duped of Rs 80 lakh by fraudsters posing as officials of a global courier firm and government agencies and promising to save her from action in a smuggling case, police said on Wednesday.

On March 29, the victim, who has retired from a power company and resides at Vashi in Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai township, received a phone call from a person claiming to be from an international courier service, an official from cyber police station said.

The caller informed her of a parcel received by them under her name containing smuggled goods and said they have filed a complaint against her with the cyber crime police.

The victim later received fake letters in the name of the Reserve Bank of India, the Enforcement Directorate and the Finance Ministry through a Skype account and the communications threatened her with arrest, the official said.

Under the guise of offering her assistance to save her from legal action and for property verification, the woman was coerced into transferring Rs 80 lakh into various bank accounts, he said.

The woman later realised she was cheated.

Based on her complaint filed on Tuesday evening, the police registered an FIR against unidentified persons under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 465, 468, 471 (forgery), 170 (personating a public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Information Technology Act, the official said.

A probe was on into the case.