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A 41-year-old assistant commissioner with the customs department in Mumbai fell for a cyber fraud as he sent Amazon gift cards worth Rs 80,500 to a fraudster who impersonated a senior customs officer, said the police.
A first information report (FIR) was registered on November 2 at the Powai police station. The incident took place on November 1 around 4.30 pm. The complainant told the police he received a message on WhatsApp from a person who kept a senior customs officer’s photo as the display picture.
The complainant told the police that he saw the display picture and assumed the sender was his senior officer and it did not cross his mind to check if the mobile number was also of the senior officer.
The fraudster asked the complainant to send him Amazon gift cards. The complainant bought nine Amazon gift cards worth Rs 80,500 in total and sent those to the WhatsApp number.
But when the fraudster asked for more gift cards, the complainant checked the mobile number and realised he was being cheated. He approached the Powai police where the FIR was registered for cheating and impersonation under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 419, 420 IT Act sections 66 C and 66D. “We are trying to recover the money and trace the accused,” said a police official Monday.
In the recent past, several times cyber-fraudsters have created fake social media profiles on Facebook and WhatsApp by using display/profile pictures of senior government officials from the police, Income Tax and GST departments and managed to dupe people known to them by requesting money.
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