Mangaluru
A woman has fallen victim to a parcel fraud scheme, losing nearly Rs 39 lakh. In her complaint, she reported that on September 23, she received a call from a person claiming to be Shreya Sharma from the DHL courier office in Mumbai. The caller informed her that a parcel addressed to her, intended for China, had not been dispatched and was still at the courier office.
The caller alleged that the parcel contained five passports, a laptop, 400 grams of MDMA, bank documents, and 3.5 kg of clothes. Although the woman denied sending any such parcel, the caller insisted it contained illegal substances and threatened her with arrest by customs officials if she did not comply.
On September 24, the complainant received a video call for an ‘inquiry,’ during which she was told that to avoid arrest and prove her innocence, she needed to transfer all her money to the Development Bank of Singapore’s Dindigul Branch. Out of fear, she transferred Rs 37 lakh via RTGS.
On September 26, she was instructed to send an additional Rs 2.30 lakh to an HDFC Bank account, with assurances that all funds would be returned with interest after the inquiry. However, after this, communication ceased. By September 28, realizing she had been scammed, she filed a complaint at the Mangaluru East Police Station.
