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Journalism of Courage
A Pune woman working as manager with a private global bank, who was targeted in a drugs-in-parcel scam, was coerced to sit before a camera in a locked room as the cyber criminals siphoned Rs 11 lakh from her account within minutes by manipulating her into giving remote access to her phone.
An FIR has been registered at Chatushrungi police station by a 26-year-old woman who works as a manager with the Pune unit of a global banking major. In the second week of May this year, she received a call from a man posing as executive of a courier company. He told her that a parcel sent in her name to Iran had been intercepted in which seven debit cards, five expired passports, five kilogram of toys and 500 grams of MDMA had been seized. She denied having sent any such parcel.
The caller said that an FIR had been registered against her with ‘Mumbai Narcotics’. The caller from the courier company told her that he would connect her to an officer from the ‘department’ who would help her ‘clear her name from the case.’ She was asked to download a video calling application and connect with a profile. During the video call she was told that her bank account was being used for illegal activities including money laundering.
The complainant was then asked to lock herself in a room and not talk or communicate with anyone. She was then asked to share her phone screen for which she was made to download a remote access application. She was also asked to share her financial details and debit card pin numbers. Over the next few minutes, the suspect posing as an officer, made her scroll through her online banking history and kept asking her questions about each of the transactions. During this brief period, the cyber fraudsters made various online transfers from her bank account for which they obtained the One Time Passwords with the help of remote access she was manipulated into giving earlier. In four large transfers, the complainant lost a total of Rs 11.6 lakh.
She later approached the Chatushrungi police station and an FIR was registered. A cyber investigator from Pune city police said the drugs-in-parcel scams, the cyber criminals manipulate the victims into making the transfers. In this case, the fraudsters coerced the victims into giving payment details and remote access to her phone using which they siphoned the amount from her account.
In the drugs-in-parcel scams, the victims are contacted by fake international courier service executives claiming drugs have been found in parcels sent by them to foreign countries. They are told about police or CBI investigations and are told to communicate via Skype with fake profiles posing as law enforcement officers. Fraudsters impersonate as IPS officers or senior agency personnel to further deceive victims. They coerce victims into transferring money for various reasons, including customs fees or legal charges, and by also claiming that their bank accounts are at risk from hackers. Callers often intimidate victims, claiming they’re under surveillance.
