Doctor duped of Rs 4.47 crore by fraudsters posing as FedEx employees, Mumbai cops

Her call was then transferred to a woman who identified herself as an officer from Andheri police station. She advised the doctor to file a police complaint online and got her to download Skype on her mobile for this purpose.

Following this, the doctor received a call on Skype from a person claiming to be an officer from the Mumbai Police Crime Branch. “They scared her by informing that her Aadhaar ID had been used to open 23 bank accounts that were being used for money laundering. They said it required criminal investigation,” said an officer.

Police said the accused asked the doctor to provide screenshots of her bank balance in all her bank accounts for verification, else she would be arrested. “Thereafter, she was directed to transfer the amount to an RBI stipulated account for verification of all transactions in her account… she was informed that after verification, the amount shall be returned to her,” said the officer.

The DCP said that they categorically directed her not to tell her family and tricked her into transferring Rs 4.47 crore into the accounts given by them.

“By putting the victim in fear of arrest, the fraudsters extorted the money through net banking from May 5-9… The accused used technology to hide their identity; the money was collected in mule accounts and was then routed into other accounts,” said the DCP.

Police said SIMs and bank accounts from different parts of the country were used to create complexity in the case.

In a statement, FedEx said, “FedEx does not request personal information through unsolicited phone calls, mail, or email for goods being shipped or held, unless requested/initiated by customers. If any individual receives any suspicious phone calls or messages, they are advised not to provide their personal information and instead should contact our customer service hotline at 1800-22-6161 or 1800-209-6161 for verification.”