Fake I-T inquiry, scamsters posing as Delhi CID officials & a credit card case: How retired Bengaluru man lost Rs 69 lakh in cyber fraud

Bengaluru: A fake Income Tax (I-T) department inquiry, callers posing as Delhi CID and bank officials and a dubious credit card case saw a retiree in northern Bengaluru lose over Rs 69 lakh in what appears to be a new modus operandi employed by cyber fraudsters.

On March 6, the victim Naresh MA (name changed), 70, got a call from a person claiming he was an ICICI Bank official. The caller said a credit card in Naresh’s name from their Rajasthan branch had Rs 1.45 lakh dues pending.

Though Naresh had an ICICI bank account, he told the caller he did not possess a credit card from the said branch. Next, the phone call was connected to so-called “officials” from the Delhi CID Cyber Cell.

The CID impersonators told Naresh some unknown people availed of a credit card in his name and were misusing it. Further, Naresh was told he was under a “non-disclosure agreement” as part of the probe and that he should remain silent.

Meanwhile, Naresh travelled to Europe, while still being in touch with the scamsters on their insistence.

Initially, the scamsters asked Naresh to send them Rs 5 lakh to “obtain bail” in the credit card case registered against him as it was in his name. The first payment was then made.

Sensing that the victim was under their spell, the scamsters brought in a new ruse. They told Naresh there was an I-T inquiry against him and he had to transfer money to a few “undercover” bank accounts “for fund investigation”. A scared Naresh did the scammers’ bidding and wired them Rs 69,00,645 in multiple transactions to seven bank accounts between March 6 and March 17.

A police investigator told DH that when Naresh was in Europe, he informed one of his acquaintances about the incident, who suspected it was a scam. After consulting his family, Naresh approached the police.

Naresh filed a complaint on April 6 after he returned to Bengaluru and a case was registered under Sections 66C (punishment for identity theft) and 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Police officials that DH spoke to said the structure of the ruse was similar to the notorious FedEx courier fraud, but how the victim was enticed was different.

“Instead of a courier containing drugs, the scamsters used credit cards and instead of Mumbai police and customs officials, Delhi Cyber Cell and I-T department’s names were used,” an officer said.

“The victim, in this case, panicked when the scamsters told him about the non-disclosure agreement, which, however, was never shared either physically or digitally,” the officer added,

The investigator said they have begun procedures to freeze Rs 2.70 lakh and Rs 80,000 in two bank accounts.