‘Newton’ actor Anjali Patil loses nearly Rs 6 lakh to ‘drug parcel’ fraud

The parcel, headed to Taiwan, was seized by the customs department with her Aadhaar card, Sharma told Anjali. He further informed her that it was a matter of identity theft and guided her to speak to someone in the Mumbai cyber police department.

Meanwhile, Anjali received a Skype call from one Banerjee, who claimed to be an officer with the Mumbai cyber police. Banerjee told her that her Aadhaar card was linked to three bank accounts which were involved in a money laundering case, according to the FIR.

To resolve the matter, Banerjee demanded Rs 96,525 to verify her bank account with the finance department. After Anjali sent the money, Banerjee told her that it was a well-organised crime and some bank officials were also involved in the scam, and demanded Rs 4,83,291 from her for further verification and to help her in getting her name cleared, a police officer said.

Anjali deposited the said amount in order to close the case and avoid a police proceeding. When she reached home and informed her landlord about it, the landlord told her that it was possibly a fraud. She then approached the police and filed a complaint on December 29.

“We have registered a case of cyber fraud and are further investigating the matter,” said another officer from DN Nagar police station.