Your package contains ‘illegal’ items: How this doctor lost Rs 52 lakh to online scammers?

When someone calls you and says there is a package waiting for delivery at your address, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Perhaps you feel excited, happy or surprised – depending on whether you ordered something online or not. Usually, courier delivery is for items that you ordered online. But what if one day you get a call from someone that the package sent using your ID contains illegal items? Be careful, this is a popular scam that is increasing rapidly these days.

And, the modus operandi of courier delivery scams is exactly this. According to Times of India, the latest person to become its victim is Dr. Anand, a resident of Ramalinga Nagar, Tamil Nadu. Doctor lost Rs 52 lakh after he was allegedly duped by a person calling him posing as a FedEx agent. The fraudster, using his Aadhaar card as proof of identity, informed Anand that a prohibited item had been sent from Taiwan, and the police had initiated legal proceedings against him.

The next day, the doctor receives another call, this time from a person claiming to be a CBI officer. The impersonator informed the victim Anand that he had been implicated in money laundering and insisted that he immediately transfer all his funds to a CBI account in Mumbai.

Later, believing what the scammers said, the person transferred Rs 52,100,364 through RTGS. Subsequently, when the doctor called the fake CBI officer and FedEx agents, they realized what had happened.

He said, this is not the first incident of such scam. In fact, fraudsters taking advantage of courier delivery scams are increasingly targeting new victims these days. Just last year, we had detailed how Bengaluru resident Keka Dey had successfully thwarted similar scammers who falsely accused her of sending “illegal” items – including 5 passports, 3 credit cards, 1 Laptops and even 150 grams of MDMA drugs were included. An address in Taipei, Taiwan.

Therefore, if you encounter such scammers out of fear, it is important to block them immediately and report the incident to the authorities. Additionally, avoid disclosing personal identities like Aadhaar, and avoid sharing OTPs or providing address details, as these pieces of information can contribute to scammers’ wide web of deception.