Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 18 January 2023
Two women one from Rangat in North and Middle Andaman and another from Kalighat in North and Middle Andaman recently lost a huge amount of money to cyber fraudsters.
The woman from Rangat accepted a Friend Request on Facebook from one person named Dr. Ray Binod. The person obtained the WhatsApp number of the woman from her Facebook Profile and started messaging her. Initially, the woman ignored the messages but later started chatting with the person on WhatsApp.
The person then informed the Rangat Woman that he would send some gifts for her which she would have to be collected from the customs. The woman received calls a few days later from some one person claiming to be a custom officer. The women then paid a sum of ₹10,17,000/- through multiple bank transactions to the fake customs officer.
The fake custom officer initially asked for money for customs clearance of the gifts and then later started threatening the woman with legal consequences saying that 70,000/- pounds were found in her gifts and she will have to pay up or she can be put behind the bars.
The woman reported the crime after the fraudsters again asked her to pay up ₹6,00,000/- but she was out of money. The woman after running out of funds switched off her phone and later informed her relatives about the whole incident.
The women from Kalighat also lost ₹2,75,000/- to cybercrime. She was also contacted by a fake customs officer and transferred the money to him for clearing her gifts through customs.
Cyber Crimes are on the rise in the Islands and many such crimes involving small amounts often go unreported. Islanders should report every online financial fraud whether involving small amounts of money or a large amount to the police.
Same incident happened with me in the year 2021.I lost 1,20000 rupees…