Man loses Rs 1.33 crore in cyber fraud in Karnataka's Udupi

Udupi: Cyber fraudsters posing as customs and police officers swindled Rs 1.33 crore from a 53 year old man from Udupi after claiming that a ‘FedEx’ courier package in his name contained illegal items like drugs, passports, ATMs and US dollars.

In a complaint, Arun Kumar said that on July 29, he received a call from an unknown number claiming to be from Customs. The caller had allegedly informed him that a FedEx courier, booked using his Aadhaar number contained five passports, five ATM cards, 200 grams of MDMA, and $5000, and was currently under the custody of Mumbai Customs.

When the complainant denied booking any courier, the caller provided a hotline connection, claiming it was of a higher authority from the police. Kumar was informed that his Aadhar card had been misused and that a complaint had been registered on the same. The caller then claimed that his Aadhar card was linked to various bank accounts and was used by terrorists to purchase SIM cards.

The callers even threatened of his virtual arrest and said they would monitor him via Skype. He was instructed to stay in one room of his house and not to contact others from July 29 to August 9. The callers asked the complainant to transfer money to various bank accounts to solve the case. Believing the callers, he allegedly transferred a total of Rs 1,33,81,000 between August 6 and August 9.

A case has been registered at the Udupi CEN Police Station under sections 66(C), 66(D) of the IT Act.