Pune: A anesthesiologist from Pune recently fell victim to a cyber fraud scheme, losing Rs 70 lakh to criminals impersonating law enforcement officials. The scammers falsely accused her of being part of an “international organ trafficking ring” and claimed she was under investigation by the CBI, even threatening her with arrest.
The anesthesiologist, in her late 50s, was first contacted in late February by someone pretending to be a bank executive. The caller claimed that a card in her name had malfunctioned, despite her insistence that she did not possess such a card. The fraudster then suggested that criminal activities were linked to the card and urged her to contact the ‘Delhi CID’ for further clarification.
Subsequently, the anesthesiologist received a video call from another scammer posing as a CID officer, who was dressed in a police uniform. This individual claimed that her name was associated with illegal transactions related to organ and child trafficking, alleging that Rs 3 crore had been traced to her bank accounts. He threatened her with arrest if she did not comply.
The victim was told she was being monitored and was pressured into revealing her financial information, including her savings and investments. To complicate matters, a second fraudster, pretending to be a prosecutor, advised her to transfer her money to a “government account” for the investigation, assuring her that the funds would be returned shortly.
Using a series of manipulative tactics, the criminals convinced the doctor to move her money from her savings and investments to a mule account. During the first week of March, she reportedly made five significant transfers totaling Rs 70 lakh to this fraudulent account. As the demands for additional funds persisted, she was even coerced into mortgaging her house to fulfill the scammers’ requests.
The seriousness of the scam became clear to the anesthesiologist only after she discussed the situation with a family member. The relative quickly identified the indicators of fraud, which led the doctor to contact the cyber crime police. An FIR was filed, and an investigation was initiated.
The inquiry revealed that these scams are run by complex, globally distributed multinational networks. They take advantage of unsuspecting victims, funneling money into mule accounts before transferring it to international cybercriminals via cryptocurrency transactions.
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