MUMBAI: An inspector from the Customs Department and his wife were recently duped of Rs 1.9 lakh by an unknown person who impersonated her brother and asked her to transfer money to his friend’s account who is in urgent need of money.
The officer’s wife did not suspected the caller and believed him to be his brother and followed his instruction after he (imposter) sent a screenshot of the NEFT transaction of Rs2 lakh that he claimed to have transferred to her bank account.
Powai police probing the case said the customs officer without verifying her bank account transferred some part of the money and the balance was transferred by her husband (officer) who was driving back home.
The officer and his wife were duped in the online fraud on June 8.
The did not get suspicious when the fraudster claimed to be her brother, till her husband got suspicious when the fraudster demanded another Rs 2.5 lakh after claiming that he has transferred the money through NEFT as he was facing server issue in completing a wire transfer.
“The fraudster who posed as her brother asked her to wire the money to help a friend’s son who is in hospital.
He constantly spoke on the phone with her and made her believe that he has transferred money through NEFT and she will receive it soon.
Meanwhile, he asked her to transfer the money from her account,” said a Powai police officer.
The inspector was on his way back home when he received a call from his wife, who claimed that she was speaking to her brother on the phone and he wanted to help a friend.
In the complaint, the customs officer said, “My wife informed me that her brother has transferred Rs 2 lakh to her account, as he could not directly do the wire transfer due to a server issue and asked her to transfer that money in his friend’s account.
The imposter shared screenshots of the NEFT transaction and claimed that money would soon be credited into her account which she believed.” A police officer said as the customs officer’s wife had only Rs 90,000 in her account, she asked him to transfer the balance sum to the account that the impersonator shared with her.
“The customs officer said he was in the parking area in Powai when his wife requested to transfer the balance sum.
I transferred Rs 25,000 and Rs 75,000 in two transactions via net banking and UPI method respectively.
Later, when the officer reached home, he saw his wife was still talking to the impersonator who asked her to transfer more than Rs 2.5 lakhs.
Suspecting something wrong, the officer spoke to the man and realised it was not his brother-in-law.
When confronted the fraudster gave vague answers and disconnected the line,” said the officer.
Police have sought the transaction details from the bank to track the fraudster through the account that was used in the fraudulent transactions.