[IamNikhil]

Appalling to know that the CI of your local police branch said they can't do anything about it. Impersonation of a government servant, physically/digitally or in any fashion, is strictly illegal under IPC Section 170. If the police decide to do something they can do many things; sadly such lethargy on the part of the authorities compounds the problem more.

Anyway, thank heavens that you were saved in the nick of time. If you had transferred any amount via Gpay, it would have only been a slippery slope from there on.

Ridiculous how intense these scams have started becoming. A severe crackdown is needed.

[turbodude]

Originally Posted by Bonemechanic

My narrow escape from a cyber fraudster

Then he asked me for my Aadhaar card number, which I shared with him.

Sir, if you have shared your aadhaar number please download m-aadhaar app in your android phone and lock the biometrics. There is another scam going on in which scammers steal your fingerprints from property registrar and using your aadhaar id and fingerprint, withdraw money from bank account. This warning is also shared by SBI on sms with its customers so the scam seems to be quite real.

Originally Posted by buzzy_boy

I'm sorry to say that your CI basically sold you, to use a technical term, horse crap.

Impersonating a public servant is a punishable offence under section 170 of the IPC. If this is not a cognizable offence, then I don't know what else is.

Thanks for this information. We had received such call and police replied same to us, no money gone no complaint will be done. This is certainly not a good reply from protector of law n order. They just ignore the complaints.

[vamsi.vadrevu]

Hi All,

I urge everyone who receives these calls, kindly register a complaint in the national cyber crime portal https://cybercrime.gov.in/

I did so recently and got acknowledgment and message saying that the complaint has been forwarded to my nearest police station. I'm not sure how much or what action will be taken, but as a responsible citizen, I hope I did my part.
If enough complaints are registered, it will be harder to ignore. They will also realize the scale of these nefarious operations.

I still can't believe they had my Aadhar information with them! Makes me wonder if the Aadhar database has already been breached and if our biometric information is out in the dark-web already!

I decided to reinforce all my online accounts (which allowed hardware 2FA) with Yubikey security keys as secondary factor. Phone and Google Authenticator as second factor are still vulnerable to some kinds of cyber attacks, unlike the hardware security keys.

Whoever is in the IT field, might already be aware of social engineering and phishing attacks as we're typically required to undergo regular trainings. But one can never be too careful!

[Uqaab]

Originally Posted by Bonemechanic

My narrow escape from a cyber fraudster

I talked to the CI of my police station area, and he told me that there is no way to register a case since no money was lost. He told me to inform my bank administrator to check for any foul play.
.

It is frustrating that our system does not have the will to catch them, otherwise why it is so difficult to catch these frauds?

On the one hand online banking and the digital economy have made our lives easy and on the other side, opened this pandora's box of ever-changing and more advanced frauds. My father, in his 70s, uses a smartphone for WhatsApp and YouTube but thank God he feels UPI and online banking are too complex and difficult to learn, otherwise, the general naivety of senior citizens will invite them lot of unnecessary trouble online.

[100Kmphormore]

In this case, I would have given him a mouthful and ended the call as I had nothing incoming/outgoing from/to Taiwan. I face scammers daily on whatsapp though promising quick money making schemes, please be very careful, especially if on the hunt for a job as these take real small IT company names and degrade their name. My reply to unknown numbers is in my mother tongue Kannada always as I live in Bengaluru, let it be company recruiters, spam or scum like these. Half of them get filtered out then and there. The real ones will anyways show up in a simple google search.

[HTC]

My wife had also gotten some call with similar modus operandi. Caller was speaking in hindi and she in talking in kannada. That guy got impatient and cut the call itseems.

Similar case reported in Bangalore today. 13L lost by a lady.

[BrokenHW]

Virtually confined for three days by fraudsters impersonating fake Mumbai Crime Branch officers, a businessman lost Rs 1.98 crore to FedEx courier scam

[SidTheChamp]

Originally Posted by Bonemechanic

My narrow escape from a cyber fraudster

Today (25/10/23) around 11:30 AM, I received a call from 8210298961. The caller claimed to be from the FedEx courier branch in Mumbai Andheri East. He informed me that there was a consignment to Taiwan in my name that had been seized by Mumbai port customs on October 20th. The consignment allegedly contained illegal items, and their legal team would contact me. He then transferred the call to another person who spoke Malayalam, my mother tongue.

Congratulations on having a near escape. Once panic sets in and not able to think, its very difficult to come out and one ultimately transfers money. These guys have near perfected the art of posing as police, narcotics etc.

One question, why you believed so easily there was a shipment by your name. Have you sent a shipment or were expecting one that you got convinced

[motorsan]

These scamsters are having a successful run for at least a few months by now, judging by the news reports. I too got a similar call recently, which I cut instantly.

The modus operandi indicates an organised crime syndicate behind this. Has any of these scamsters been caught already ? If not, why are our law enforcement authorities not able to get hold of them? I believe bank account, phone number etc. should have helped to track the criminals faster.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by motorsan

The modus operandi indicates an organised crime syndicate behind this. Has any of these scamsters been caught already ? If not, why are our law enforcement authorities not able to get hold of them? I believe bank account, phone number etc. should have helped to track the criminals faster.

Looks like arrests are starting to happen:

https://indianexpress.com/article/ci...works-9066271/

[fhdowntheline]

It may be a good idea never to take a call from an unknown person. Two most important and urgent calls are 1) your family 2) your known office numbers - in that order. Everything else in life can wait for a second call or call back later.

[Vishal.R]

Few days back received call claiming to be from Reliance Nippon Life insurance telling me that I had old ULIP policy for which I paid 45k 10 years back, and I am eligible to receive some return. Even at that time also there were some red flags but was just waiting for next communication.

Even couldn't recollect if I had ever applied but since I had changed different cities there was still very remote possibility of missing something.

Next day, during further communication with the "representative working with Navi Mumbai Office" handling my case, I was told that in order to claim around 1.6L I have following options,

1. Pay remaining 4 installments and receive all amount in 60-80 days.
2. Pay 9 instalments and I am eligible for full return in 2027.

After hearing this I was mostly became sure about this being a fraud but still to make sure, visited their local branch
with the "policy number" they gave and they confirmed that it belongs to someone else.

Still as I was receiving more calls, contacted company through social media and confirmed that it was an attempt to fraud only.

[naveen.raju]

Couple of days back, my wife received a call from a scamster.

He never introduced himself but mentioned he is calling from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). Said that someone used my wife's Aadhaar card copy to purchase a sim card and was it to harass people. An FIR has been filed against the sim's owner (my wife) and was asked to report to Mumbai police station.

He gave the police station address, the phone number of the alleged sim, FIR no, address of the shop from where the SIM was bought etc.

My wife then asked few questions:

1. Why didn't you call from fixed line and used a mobile number to call me? Truecaller showed it as "Vijay" or "Vivek".
2. If FIR is filed, why wouldn't the police not call me? You are speaking on behalf of the police and asking me to come to Mumbai?
3. Tried calling the alleged phone number and it's not valid.

He didn't answer to any of the questions but simply asked her to report to Mumbai police station. My wife later tried calling that scamster but his phone was switched off.

[xotiq]

Received a call from 'TRAI Kochi office' couple of weeks back. For a change, the caller spoke in fluent malayalam, and had basic information to intiate the conversation. Looks like they have moved on to geo targeting. Premise to call was feedback survey and sim change for better conectivity. Heard him out for a minute, and then thanked and disconnected, could hear the caller infuriated that I am not willing to 'upgrade' SIM.

[SidTheChamp]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Couple of days back, my wife received a call from a scamster.

He never introduced himself but mentioned he is calling from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). Said that someone used my wife's Aadhaar card copy to purchase a sim card and was it to harass people. An FIR has been filed against the sim's owner (my wife) and was asked to report to Mumbai police station.

He gave the police station address, the phone number of the alleged sim, FIR no, address of the shop from where the SIM was bought etc.
.

Oh man..it's he same call I'd received a month back. The same statement including some bogus shop etc. That time I didn't have Truecaller and was in panic. He cut the call and when I called back it was switched off.

On the FedEx scam, it hasn't stopped. In last 2 days, another victim an IISC professor for 60 lakhs.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/amp/st...es-rs-83-lakhs

Another victim in Bangalore paid up 1.98 cr on 2nd Dec.