Beware, these courier calls are just fraud

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These days, people are receiving fraud calls from so-called ‘courier’ services informing them about drugs, illegal papers etc being found in their parcels. They try to scare people by referring to fake passports or drugs and demanding huge amount of money to ‘settle’ the case. The courier fraud network is thriving now in the country.

In Mumbai, a woman was cheated of nearly 2 lakh rupees  because of courier fraud. The method was the same, the caller had said that a courier had arrived at the airport. When the woman refused, the thugs called her in disguise of police. The thugs said that the matter was of narcotics, if the women didn’t listen,  the call would be transferred to the officers of the narcotics department. The woman got scared and made the payment that was demanded.

Video calls are also being used in such types of fraud. Nitin Kamath, co-founder of retail brokerage firm Zerodha, mentioned such cases in his tweet – he said that his colleague was first told about the courier. Then, the person claiming to be a policeman made a video call and showed a fake official letter. These people had information of Aadhaar number of the person who got cheated.

How can you  avoid such frauds?

Anyone can receive such a call. It is difficult to avoid it, so understand how to deal with it? If you are told that drugs have been found in the courier, just say that your lawyer will talk about it. Most fraudsters think people get nervous quickly. Hearing about the lawyer, the fraudster will know that you understand the law and won’t be scared by the threats.  He may hang up or argue. Ask them for courier details in writing. find the courier company’s number and contact the company directly. Never share personal details like Aadhaar, bank account with anyone. And most importantly, complain about such cases on the cybercrime complaint number 1930. You can also file an online complaint at cybercrime.gov.in. You can also go to the nearest police station and file a complaint.