A case has been registered at the Manipal station under sections 66(C), 66(D) of the Information Technology Act and IPC sections 419 and 420.
How the professor got scammed?
The victim was contacted by the fraudsters on June 22 at 4:21pm when she got a call from a person named Sanjay Kumar claiming to be a FedEd employee. She was informed that a parcel had been received containing five Iranian passports, five debit cards, two kilograms of clothes, and 150g of MDMA. The parcel, the caller said, was addressed to her.
The caller then informed her that an FIR has been registered with the Mumbai Police in this regard. Subsequently, she was connected to another person impersonating as a Mumbai police officer.
When asked to either visit Mumbai or cooperate online in connection with the FIR, Namrata opted for online cooperation. She was instructed to download the Skype app.
Later, she received a video call from an individual named Pradeep Sawanth, who introduced himself as a Mumbai police officer. The fraudster, this time, asked for details of her Aadhaar card and bank debit cards. Eventually, she was asked to transfer Rs 7.9 lakh in the guise of a pre-approved personal loan on credit card OTL for police verification.
How to stay safe?
Some tips that can help you stay safe from these online frauds are:
- Check for any red flags.
- Be wary of pressure to act quickly, requests for personal information, or demands for payment.
- Check the official website and contact details.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
- Ensure the website uses HTTPS and has a secure connection.