Kozhikode: On May 5 at about 10.39 am a doctor in Delhi received a call claiming to be from FedEx; the caller said a parcel she sent to Taiwan containing 140 g of MDMA was seized by the Mumbai Police. The doctor denied sending the parcel.
"Your Aadhaar number was on it," the caller said, "and passport, bank statements, two pairs of shoes and clothes."
"If the package isn't yours, register a complaint at the Andheri East Police Station," said the caller.
The doctor obliged. Soon, Dr Balsing Rajput, supposedly the deputy commissioner of police, cybercrime, joined on Skype along with officers apparently 'from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Customs'. They accused the doctor of laundering drug money.
By the end of the day, the doctor lost a whopping Rs 4.47 crore in one of the biggest cons Delhi has seen.
Fifty days on, with the same modus operandi, cybercrooks attempted to swindle a businesswoman in central Kerala. "After three and a half hours of conversations, I was drained," said Rohini Kurian*, who runs a successful business.
Luckily, Kurian snapped out of the web of deceit when the 'officials' asked her to transfer money to their account to verify the source. Her's was an emphatic 'no' amid threats of arrest.
"Cybercriminals use the names of real officers... Dr Balsing Rajput is my counterpart in Maharashtra," said Delhi cybercrime DCP Prashant Gautam investigating the Delhi doctor's case.
Kurian's story: Part and parcel of job
About noon on June 24 in her office, Kurian received a recorded call from a nine-digit number. It said a package she FedExed to Taiwan couldn't be delivered and for details press 1.
Though she had not couriered anything, she pressed 1: When Kurian said she didn't follow Hindi to a Hindi-speaking woman on the line another 'FedEx' executive with rather poor English was patched.
Courier charges of Rs 25,025 plus GST was paid from an ICICI credit card, he said, adding that the package containing '10 sets of clothes, five credit cards, six passports and 50 g of MDMA' was now with the Andheri East cyber police.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act mandates a jail term of 10-20 years for the possession of 10 g or more of a psychotropic drug.
The 'courier executive' said Kurian has to speak to the superintendent of police at Andheri East Cyber Crime transferring the call. 'Superintendent Naresh Kumar Guntu' spoke flawless English with the diction of a high-ranking officer," she recalled.
They had found she opened four bank accounts in Mumbai using her Aadhaar number which was on the courier too, Guntu told her.
"You have moved $80 million out of these four accounts," he said. He then accused her of laundering drug money. "You will have to come here and testify," he said.
When she said she was in Kerala, he suggested Skype; they were face to face online within minutes.
The Skype ID said 'Mumbai Crime Investigation Department'. The blue logo had the State emblem with 'Indian State Police' and 'Crime Investigation Department' embossed.
Before she could identify the fake logo, the superintendent interrupted and said he was joined by officials from the RBI, CBI and NCB. "There was no video but I could hear them," she said.
Guntu asked her if she had travelled to Mumbai. She had indeed, she told us.
Guntu's tone changed: "You have to be careful with your Aadhaar. Don't share it... Do you have GPay, PayPal or PayTM accounts? ...be careful with those apps, too," he wanted to win her trust.
The officer then flashed a photograph on the screen and asked if she knew the man. "His name is Mohammed Aslam. He is a money launderer... Your bank statements reveal you have some association..." She did not, she told us.
The 'SP' brought in another officer just then, 'DCP Balsing Rajput', the same man who conned the Delhi doctor. Kurian did not know the Delhi con story.
It was a five-minute wait but felt like an eternity. "I was sapped," she said.
"He had rehearsed his role down to a T," she said.
He tried to exhaust her, asked for her bank account details. She had five bank accounts with three banks.
He flashed a document on the screen. "It was from the RBI, I deal with documents every day. It looked real," she said.
It stated her Aadhaar number was being frozen as it was compromised; a new Aadhaar would be issued to her in three days, said the officer. He then asked for details of her trading account. She shared an Excel file.
Then came the final move. "Open your HDFC Bank account and type what I say." Rajput wanted her to transfer money to the 'RBI account' for verification. "I felt like something hit me. I said no," she said.
Both Kurian and the Delhi doctor were asked not to contact relatives, lest they would be considered accomplices.
Same script, different actors
The Delhi doctor was asked to transfer all her money to an 'RBI account' for verification after she was assured her money would be returned.
"She transferred Rs 4.47 crore to the cybercriminals' account in six transactions," said DCP Gautam. She even visited her bank once to break one FD.
The woman waited for four days for the Andheri Police to release her money. They sent her two certificates saying her accounts were in order but no sign of the money so far.
Banks do not demand money to verify the money trail. Bank statements shall suffice.
On May 9, she approached Delhi Cyber Crime.
DCP Gautam said it is unlikely that the same gang tried to swindle Kurian. "Within a week after getting the complaint from the Delhi doctor, we arrested eight persons. Investigation is on but we believe we busted that racket," he said.
Eight persons were picked up from Maharashtra, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Delhi and Rajasthan.
"Of the Rs 4.47 crore, the cybercriminals withdrew around Rs 3.77 crore from ATMs across India... Only Rs 60-70 lakh was still in the banking system. We froze it," he said.
The officer said it was tough to retrieve the doctor's money. "The money was initially transferred to around 100 bank accounts. From there, the money went to hundreds of other accounts," he said.
Police await Skype's reply
Kurian filed a complaint at the National Cyber Crime Portal before narrating her story to Onmanorama: "I want people not to fall prey to such scams."
"We are waiting for the reply," said an officer from Kerala's cyber police which wrote to Skype for details.
Similarly, in early May, Kottayam cyber police arrested a Nigerian national from Delhi for fleecing Rs 81 lakh from a Changanassery woman.
"It was a gift scam," said Inspector Jagadeesh V A, Station House Officer at Kottayam Cyber Crime Station.
The woman was made to believe by her Facebook friend that she received a gift worth Rs 30 crore on the occasion of Independence Day. She then started getting calls from Customs officials in various airports to pay the duty to claim the gift. She kept paying, even selling her gold ornaments till she realised she was being duped.
(* name changed)
