Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (EP)
Mangaluru, May 9: Online fraudsters in the guise of Mumbai crime branch and CBI officers threatened a 72-year-old retired engineer and got Rs 1.60 crore transferred into their bank accounts in one of the biggest online frauds that has come to light in Mangaluru lately.
The 72-year-old individual received a threatening telephone call from fraudsters in the guise of Mumbai crime branch saying that a parcel sent in his name to Thailand had drugs in it.
The unknown individual who telephoned said his name was Rajesh Kumar and that he was calling from Fedex company. “Customs have seized the parcel sent by you to Thailand. It has five passports of Afghanistan and Kenya, three credit cards, 140 grams of MDMA drug, four kilos of clothes and a laptop. Mumbai crime branch is investigating the case,” he said.
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Another person claiming to be a Mumbai crime branch officer said that CBI officer Rudra Rathod would give additional information and asked the septuagarian to contact him on rathoreb@21 via e-mail. A person claiming to be Rudra Rathod called and said that a gang which had killed several children was involved in the case. “Your son and daughter will have to be arrested through Interpol if you do not cooperate,” he said in his threat.
The 72-year-old Mangaluru-based engineer who had retired after working with a shipping company grew scared without understanding that it was indeed a fraudulent telephone call. The fraudsters forced him to open a Skype account and threatened him. Then, the fraudsters had also sent several notices on Skype app posing as CBI officials asking him to send money in the form of bonds if he wants to evade arrest.
Thereafter, the fraudsters had also assured the retired engineer to refund the amount after completion of the case. The engineer pleaded with the fraudsters not to harm him and his children before he remitted Rs 1.1 crore from his ICICI Bank account on May 2 and another Rs 50 lacs on May 6 believing them that they had called him from the crime branch to transfer the money to the bank accounts given by them. On calling them the next day, he did not get any response from the 'strangers'. The victim informed his daughter and he realised that he was conned. He then lodged a police complaint.