Indians Losing Lakhs of Rupees To The Latest Courier Scam: What’s Going On and How To Avoid It

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Courier Scam

 

Indians are nowadays busy scamming there own people. They are posing as CBI agents and courier executives are involved in the scam. They get in touch with victims and tell them, fictitiously, that an airport has confiscated a package that contained illicit goods like drugs, MDMA and many other illegal products. Then, they demand payment from the victims.

Cyber scam cases are increasing in India as more people become victims of internet fraudsters‘ schemes and lose thousands of dollars. Even more concerning is the fact that con artists are always coming up with new techniques to trick people. As a result, even when someone is aware of a certain scam, the introduction of new ones frequently leaves individuals perplexed and opens them up to becoming victims of these online frauds. The courier or parcel scam is one such scheme that is growing in popularity right now.

A PhD candidate at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science recently reported a scam to the police. The student lost Rs 1,34,650 after answering a call from a person claiming to be a FedEx employee. The caller said that her identity had been stolen and that a package that was sent to her contained illicit goods. The victim goes on to say that the caller then put her in touch with a person posing as a representative of the Mumbai Narcotics Division in order to confirm her identification. After that, they requested that she attend a Skype conversation in order to give her comments, and they showed her official government documents from the RBI and CBI. In order to validate her bank accounts, con artists also demanded money and her bank statement.

“They pretended to be officers from the Mumbai Narcotics Division and threatened to give MDMA to me illegally. I transferred the money out of extreme fear and worry,” she disclosed. The victim allegedly sent Rs. 1,34,650 to the con artist’s bank account.

Another case that has been reported involves an IT professional from Mumbai who was duped by cyber criminals pretending to be Department of Drugs officers. The swindle cost the woman Rs 1.97 lakh. A doctor from Delhi too lost over Rs 4.47 crore a few weeks back after falling for a similar fraud.

The founder and CEO of financial services company Zerodha, Nithin Kamath, recently brought attention to a comparable situation on social media on June 23.

 

What does a courier scam mean?

Cybercriminals are deliberately targeting young people in this new courier scam, which is upsetting and worrying them. They get in touch with victims and tell them that “courier parcels” purportedly carrying drugs or other illicit goods are being shipped overseas under their identities.

After the victim starts to trust what they are saying, the con artists encourage her to attend a Skype chat where they pretend to be drug department police. They continue to manipulate and stress the victim during the call. They ask for the victim’s bank account information, Aadhaar number, and other identifying details.

Furthermore, the con artists ask the victim to pay money while claiming that it will be refunded under the guise of verification. But, the con artists cut off communication as soon as the victim received the money, leaving them helpless to recover their lost funds. Indians spamming fellow countrymen is more than just an offense, more and more awareness is required on this and this is a small effort on behalf of thestyle.world.

Disclaimer: This is a true incident reflected in many scenarios and this is a awareness note by Shrishti Jaiswal as it has happened to her personally. 

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