Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 2 May 2022
Two Tehsildars posted at two different District Headquarters were scammed by Unknown Person(s) by posing as their respective Deputy Commissioners. Tehsildar posted at Car Nicobar was scammed by posing as the Deputy Commissioner, Nicobar District on 14/04/2022 and Tehsildar, Mayabunder was scammed by posing as Deputy Commissioner, N & M Andaman District on 15/04/2022. In both instances, the scammer who posed as the respective DCs asked the Tehsildars to send Amazon E-Gift Cards via Link Sharing. Tehsildar, Car Nicobar was scammed for Rs. 90,000/- before he became suspicious, whereas Tehsildar, Mayabunder lost Rs. 40,000/-.Â
On 14/04/2022, Tehsildar, Car Nicobar received a WhatsApp message indicating the name of Deputy Commissioner, Nicobar District. Deputy Commissioner, Nicobar District was on leave from 12/04/2022. The person posing as DC (Nicobar) requested the Tehsildar to send 7 Amazon Pay E-Gift Cards worth Rs. 10,000/- each. The scammer posing as DC also specified to use either Congratulation or Thank You theme and asked to share the link so that he can forward it easily to the prospects. The Tehsildar was not well versed in creating such E-Gift Cards so he requested another employee of DC Office Car Nicobar to help him. The employee arranged the gift cards using the account of one of his known friends who is a resident of Car Nicobar.
The gift cards were then forwarded to the number through which WhatsApp Messages were received by the employee.
Tehsildar, Car Nicobar again received a message asking him to send 13 more gift cards of Rs. 10,000/- each, but this time due to non-availability of funds he could only send two gift cards.
On 15th April 2022, the employee who helped the Tehsildar in sending the gift cards received a message directly from a new number asking the status of the remaining 11 gift cards. The employee got suspicious and informed the Tehsildar of his suspicions. The Tehsildar then asked the employee not to send any more gift cards and to send a message regarding the non-availability of funds.
Tehsildar, Car Nicobar then filed a Police Complaint on 15/04/2022.
The same modus operandi was used on Tehsildar, Mayabunder by the scammer on 15th April 2022. Tehsildar, Mayabunder received a WhatsApp message from a number which had the name and profile picture of Deputy Commissioner, N & M Andaman District. The message demanded the help of sending 10 Amazon E-Gift Cards of Rs. 10,000/- each via link sharing. The scammer posing as the DC also informed that due to being busy in a meeting she is unable to purchase the gift cards herself. Believing the messages to be genuine Tehsildar, Mayabunder managed to send four Amazon e-Gift cards valued at Rs. 10,000/- each.
He further received messages to borrow money from friends to send the gift cards which raised suspicion. He then verified and found the number to be fake. Tehsildar, Mayabunder then filed a Police Complaint on 16/04/2022.
Tehsildar, Car Nicobar was scammed to the tune of Rs. 90,000/- and Tehsildar, Mayabunder was scammed to the tune of Rs. 40,000/-.
The message received on 15/04/2022 by the employee helping Tehsildar, Car Nicobar and the message received by Tehsildar, Mayabunder originated from the same number indicating the involvement of the same person or same group of persons.
The FIR lodged at PS Car Nicobar was transferred to PS Central Crime Station. The FIR on the complaint by Tehsildar, Mayabunder is also lodged at PS Central Crime Station.
(The status of the investigation in both cases is not known and will be updated as information is obtained. This story has been published by analysing the information available in Public Domain)