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Journalism of Courage
* A man in his 20s left his job in Mumbai to fly to Ethiopia to meet a female friend with whom he had interacted only online. When he returned in January, Mumbai Customs found cocaine hidden in a duffle bag he was carrying. The man’s female friend had a fake identity and was part of a smuggling ring.
* After having reached money-transfer limits in the UPI accounts of members of his family, a man transferred Rs 1.99 lakh through a bank deposit in July this year. The man, a father to four daughters, even sold his land to raise money after being told that he needed to pay Customs duty of Rs 14 lakh to receive goods worth Rs 91 lakh that were stuck with Customs authorities.
* Earlier this year, a manager with an MNC in Pune received a call from a person who claimed to be from Customs, asking her to pay fees and penalties for parcels that were stuck with Customs. The woman was told the consignment meant for her contained drugs and credit cards — and she ended up transferring more than Rs 20 lakh online in order to avoid legal complications.
These instances are part of an emerging pattern of crime. Big rewards, expensive gifts of phones, watches, laptops, etc., or the promise of an in-person meeting after interactions over a dating/ matrimonial app or site run into a roadblock — the demand for a Customs levy. A series of frauds involving smuggling, fake profiles, and fraudulent payments follow — before the victim of the fraud realises there was no Customs duty required to be paid.
A spike in such instances in recent months has prompted Customs authorities to launch a campaign to target such instances of fraud. Not just simple or illiterate people, even retired government officials, armed forces personnel, and highly educated men and women have fallen prey to these scams, a senior Customs official said.
Ministry of Finance warning
In a series of posts on Wednesday (August 9) on the social media platform X, formerly referred to as Twitter, the Ministry of Finance cautioned people against financial fraud being carried out in the name of Customs authorities.
In one of the posts, the Ministry issued an alert for a “romance and dating scam”, and asked people to “be wary of requests for money or favours from friends you’ve met online, claiming to be detained by Indian Customs”.
“Beware of such scams. Don’t fall prey to fraudulent calls, SMS or emails. Indian Customs never calls or sends SMS. All communications from Indian Customs contain a Document Identification Number (DIN) which is a unique number and can be verified at http://www.cbic.gov.in,” the post said.
The Ministry put out at least seven posts warning people to not make any payments to personal bank accounts: “Indian Customs never calls or sends messages for paying duty in a personal bank account.”
Modus operandi of fraud
Instances of fraud involving purported payments of rewards and lottery winnings, and honeytraps spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic. After a slight decline, cases have surged again, the senior Customs official said.
Some patterns are commonly seen in instances of such fraud, the official said.
* The fraudsters often call a person to tell them that a gift/ parcel has come from outside India, and that a payment of Customs duty must be made before it is released.
* They will often present identification purporting to show they are government officials, using pictures of Customs officials that are usually available on portals of regional offices.
* Another official said: “Sometimes, the beginning is with a friendship developed on social media platforms. Promises to send expensive gifts like phones, tablets, laptops, etc. follow — after which there are claims that those items are stuck with Customs, and would require the payment of a duty. People end up making these payments to the fraudsters.”
* There have also been several instances of people showing up at airports to meet individuals whom they have met on dating/ matrimonial sites or apps. The fraudsters tell these people that they are stuck inside the airport, and require money for the payment of dues or penalties to Customs authorities.
* Often, a victim of fraud will receive communication about a purported winning of a lottery, and will be told to pay an official tax or fee in order to receive the reward. The bulk of these cases have been recorded with the police rather than as complaints with Customs.
* The highest number of such frauds have been seen in Maharashtra, followed by Delhi/ NCR, officials said. No aggregate number of these frauds is available.
