Woman Senior Manager Swindled of ₹20.81 Lakh in Customs Scam

Woman Senior Manager Swindled of ₹20.81 Lakh in Customs Scam According to a police complaint filed on Friday, a 59-year-old senior-level manager, employed at an Australia-based firm’s Aundh office, fell victim to a fraudulent scheme. The incident, which took place in Pune, involved an unknown individual posing as a representative from an international courier company.

The scammer contacted the woman on July 13, claiming that her parcel, allegedly containing six counterfeit passports, credit cards, and drugs, was stuck with the customs department.In a series of subsequent calls, the fraudster further intensified the deception. Pretending to be an officer named “Swami” from the Mumbai police cyber crime unit, the caller even conducted a video call with the victim, displaying the purported illegal items in her parcel.

To add credibility to their scheme, the scammer alleged suspicious money transactions in the victim’s bank account and insisted that she transfer ₹20.81 lakh to the accused’s account to verify compliance with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms.In a state of panic, the senior manager complied with the scammer’s demands, transferring the money in 15 online transactions over a span of three hours. Assured that the money would be returned after verification by the authorities, the victim later discovered that the caller had disappeared, having turned off their cellphone.

Unfortunately, the complainant did not seek advice from her colleagues or alert the nearby police station before making the online transactions, falling prey to the elaborate scam.The cyber police station has now initiated a case under Sections 419, 420, 506, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with Sections 66 C and D of the Information Technology Act to investigate the fraudulent activity and track down the unidentified perpetrator.