Nowadays a new type of scam is going on in India and this scam is courier scam. As soon as any method of fraud becomes popular in India, thugs immediately invent other methods. Now cyber thieves have found a new way to cheat people and that is courier scam. Till now many people in the country have become victims of courier scams and they have been duped of lakhs of rupees. You can also be targeted through courier scam or parcel scam. It is better to stay away from it. Let us understand what is courier scam and what is the way to avoid it?
Delhi man duped of Rs 4 crore
Recently a PhD student has been victimized through a courier scam. A student at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore has complained to the police about the scam. Cyber thugs pretending to be employees of well-known company FedEx have duped a student of Rs 1,34,650. The thugs had called the student saying that a courier had arrived with banned items and his identity had been exposed.
The student was then connected on another call and told that he was an officer from the Mumbai Narcotics Division. The student's statement was also recorded through a Skype call. Bank account information has also been sought from the student for verification. The victim was then accused of being involved in the supply of MDMA (drugs).
After that, Rs 1,34,650 was transferred from the victim to another bank account to get acquitted in the case. Earlier, a woman from Mumbai was duped of Rs 1.97 lakh in a similar scam. Apart from this, a few weeks ago, a person from Delhi was cheated of 4.47 crores under the same parcel scam. Zerodha founder and CEO Nitin Kamath has also tweeted about this fraud.
What is courier scam?
This is a new type of scam. In this scam, cyber thugs talk to people by posing as customs officers or courier company officials and scare them in the name of drugs or customs. They call people and say that they have received a parcel containing illegal goods. After that these people make Skype calls to trick people. After that, taking the information of the bank account, they cheat in the name of verification.
How to avoid courier scam?
The very clear thing is that if you have not placed any courier order then why are you getting courier calls. Do not answer such calls. If someone is troubling again and again, block him and complain to the cyber police station. If anyone calls in the name of Custom Department, do not talk to him. Do not share your personal information like bank details at any cost. If someone sends you a web link, don't click on it. Report such scams by calling 155260 or online at cybercrime.gov.in.
(pc toi)
