‘Drug-in-Parcel’ Fraud in Pune: Woman Loses Rs 4.9 Lakh to Cybercriminals Posing As FedEx Courier Executive

As per the FIR registered at the Hadapsar police station, the 47-year-old victim, Vidhu Amitkumar Sharma, received a call from an unknown number on her mobile phone on November 11, 2023. The caller introduced himself as Rahul Jadhav and claimed to be an executive from FedEx courier in Mumbai. The caller informed the complainant that a parcel in her name was ready to be dispatched from Mumbai to Thailand and one laptop, eight expired passports, five credit cards, bank documents, 140 grams of MDMA drugs and 5000 US dollars were recovered from her parcel during checking. 

The caller further informed her that as the contents in the parcel were illegal, a case had been registered against Sharma at Andheri, Mumbai Crime Branch. When Sharma denied sending any such parcel, the caller informed her that her Aadhaar card was used to send the parcel and asked her to talk to Ajaykumar Gupat, who claimed to be a senior officer of the courier company on the call. Gupta informed Sharma that a video-recorded statement of her would be required.

The accused allegedly provided the complainant with mh.ncrpmumbaipolice.in@outlook.com Skype ID, asked the victim to make a video call on the ID, and sent a fake Mumbai Police ID card to gain the trust of the victim. The accused said that a fraudster had used her details to open various bank accounts in her name and used her Aadhar details to send the parcel and informed the victim that she will be arrested by the narcotics department. The accused further informed the victim that she would need a no-objection certificate from the Mumbai crime branch to clear the matter.

The fraudsters provided the victim with a fake letter from the Reserve Bank of India asking for her financial details and bank balance to be disclosed and claimed that the RBI would check the legal status of her money. Later the accused informed the victim the money in her account was deposited through money laundering and asked her to disclose her bank details. Later, the scammers asked the victim to transfer the money to a bank account and claimed that it would be returned after investigation. Accordingly, the victim transferred Rs 4.90 lakh to the given bank accounts at regular intervals.

When the victim asked the fraudsters to transfer her money back to her bank account, they refused to talk to her and stopped attending her calls. Realising that she was cheated, the victim rushed to the Pune Cyber police station and registered a complaint against the unknown scammers. Accordingly, the case was transferred to the Hadapsar police station after verification. An FIR has been registered under sections 170, 34, 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66 C and 66 (D) of the IT Act and further probe is underway.