[Engine_Roars]

This was actually not very convincing as the title says, sad that even educated people fall for these out of fear. I doubt anything can be done now to recover the money.

Simple rule - If anyone is asking you to share your personal confidential details over a phone, he/she is not your well wisher. I simply block calls like these including marketing and spam calls.

[Raghu M]

The rule is basic and simple - no negotiations over calls, never share bank details, OTPs or any statements online or on calls. Anyone who needs it has different modes of communication (bank representative, loan officers etc.). Anyone else who asks for these are frauds. When the OP did not send any parcel, there is no need to be afraid of anything. Elsewhere, when people see police they feel safe, unfortunately, in India when we see the police, we get scared. Sad reality!

[Dry Ice]

Sorry to hear about your friend’s experience.

Huge thanks to him for sharing this with us. A lot of people in his shoes would have stayed quiet to escape the ridicule that comes with sticking one’s neck out and saying, ”I have been scammed”!

[Toni]

I am sorry that you fell for this sort of scam and for your loss.

Now a days a vast number of new scams are popping up daily. I used to get one or two scam link or calls every fortnight. I simply used to delete the messages/link and when the scamster used to call me on pretext of some thing I started to receive the calls by introducing myself from Police Department and the call used to be disconnected immediately.

Please don't fall for any unsolicited calls or messages simply block them. Our KYC details are available easily as they are being leaked by unscrupulous employees of our credit card/bank/insurance, etc. companies.

With the rise of the digital economy, scammers now reach targets by social media and text, as well as phone and email. Online payment platforms, apps, and marketplaces have also increased opportunities. Still, many of their tactics and strategies are similar.

We need to be alert always as we are while driving.

[PrideRed]

Sharing a similar incident I went through, an individual was misusing my phone number.

One fine day I got a call from a nationalized bank asking If I was Mr Darshan and I hadn't paid the loan. I clearly indicated I am not the one. This continued for 3-4 times and finally they stopped calling. A year later, Bajaj finance personnel addressed me with same name and asked me to pay the loan. After knowing I am not the intended person, officials did not follow up.

Couple of months down the line got a call from a Delhi court official asking me to be present for trials as I had not paid up the loan. We had an altercation and I disconnected the call. A few days later got call from same officer and indicated I will be getting a legal notice and I said by all means please mail it in my name to my residence. A week later a Lawyer whatsapp'ed me legal notice with Mr Darshan's name with an address not associated to me. I promptly responded you may take necessary action against Mr. Darshan. Post that I never received any more calls/messages.

What I understand is bank officials blindly accepted my number as secondary contact without any validation. Phone number, Aadhar card, PAN card data are easily accessible in web/Dark web and I expect more onslaught from scammers.

[NomadSK]

For all those guys, who think how an IT guys did this, how a Security guy did this, how an educated person did this or how a common Joe did this and got scammed. Let me tell you, It has got nothing to do with the education, but more with the awareness. Sh*t Happens!

Hear me out, this is the background, one fine day, I had ordered an Oil & Gas journal from Norway and generally it takes 2 weeks to reach my city Post office. They are mailed through the local Post office and not through some reputed Fedex/DHL/Aramex etc. Once they reach the Post office of my city, I have 2 options, either to collect the parcel personally from the post office, or pay some 2 euros (additionally) to get it delivered at home. 9 out of 10 times, I go there to pick up my parcels.

So, this time, I was working at offshore platform (remote location) and after a hard day's of work, was about to snooze and decided to check the mails (Sleep Deprived – Could be a red flag) and here I see the mail, that your parcel has been received, for “Home Delivery”, pls proceed to pay the 2-euro fees. Very normal practice, as in the past I used to get genuine mails like this, but, I used to personally go to the post office to collect my shipment. This time (since I wasn’t in my city) I won’t be able to go to the PO to collect it, what best I could do in that scenario? Yes, to order it at home. I tried to make the payment, through the link shared on the mail (Red Flag). It took me to almost “genuine looking” website for the payment processing (Another Red flag-I didn’t check if the website is genuine). The last resort in my credit card transaction is that, I get a numeric text to complete the transaction. But this time, when I made the payment, the website went in circles and finally incognito mode and "transaction failed" message popped-up. Since I was offshore and with very limited network coverage, I thought I will try again next day, as this wasn’t that urgent to be taken care of at this moment. I was tired by that time and didn’t thought about the whole episode as being scammed. I closed off my screen and went off to sleep.

Next Morning, I saw that I have received couple of texts late in the night that my credit card has been used to buy couple of tickets for the Musical concert in US. For almost an hour, I wasn’t even able to comprehend what has actually happened and how my card has been used in US and I couldn’t relate it to my last night episode (Brain-fade). Had to Log-in to my bank account and got my card blocked for any other further transactions. And my wallet got lighter by few hundred USD’s.

Later I came to know, this scam is called phishing and the bait is thrown to catch the fishes randomly. If you get caught in their net, you will have to pay the price. I was trapped, because I was expecting a shipment, else there was no way to get into the trap. Call it coincidence or bad luck. Probably this was the price I have to pay for being more aware about such scams. Funny thing is, I Still get such mails and just laugh at them (Snap shot of the image is from one of the recent mail I had recieved).

What Red flags did I miss;

-Mail sender/Domain – Vague name (Although it was addressed like a Post office mail)
-Deceptive e-mail Address
-Spelling mistake/English Grammar
-Generic Greeting
-Clicking the link through the e-mail
-Didn’t check my order# at the actual website, if it was real.
-Suspicious Link
-Gut Feeling

Hope it helps someone to not get SCAMMED. Cheers

[loki]

Haha. Looks like this has been going around...

1. My wife gets this call (Same details - Taiwan, MDMA confiscated, Aadhaar number etc) and starts panicking. The conversation with the supposedly 'Fedex' guy lasts about 5 mins.

2. Then he transfers the call to the Cyber Crime department where another chap gives the same details and instructs my wife to file a complaint via a Skype call

3. Luckily I was in the room and I started listening in. Cordial police officer. Government guys asking to start a Skype call. All screamed BIG RED flags to me.

4. I instructed my wife to tell the guy that Skype is not installed and that it may take time. He says take your time, will wait. Another RED flag.

5. All the while, i was instructing my wife to mute the call so that I can tell her something. But she was already in panic state and refused to even listen to me.

6. At that point I googled the Skype ID and it didnt return a search result. Final RED flag.


7. Finally i made my wife tell the guy on the phone that she needs to discuss with her family and get back. The guy quickly cut the call.


Going by the list of news articles, this scam has been running around for several months now. People Panic (educated or otherwise) and these scamsters seem to be making a good buck out of it. Maybe its the same gang or a different set of people who all are trying to make money out of the same scam. The guys who targeted my wife spoke with a Malayalam accent. I believe in some cases, these people even had the aadhaar number of the victim (its easy these days).

Net Net, even if God asks you for your banking login details/OTP etc, just say No This can't be emphasized enough...

[Vashanis]

It unfortunate that the OP had to go through the trauma and suffer the financial loss as well. But it can’t be emphasised enough that one should not share any banking details, even bank statements to unknown callers.

Anyways this is to let others know that I also received this call as an IVR. This happened about a week ago. I guess the scammers have got a bit more sophisticated. And the automated response said that my package has been delayed and I should press 1 for more information and 2 to speak to customer service. As I do order quite a few things online, I thought I should get more information so pressed 1. I thought it would it announce my AWB #, which then I could cross check. But to my surprise the scammer came on the call. And he started asking me all my details, where I gave him a fake name. And the rest of the story continued. Then he mentioned that due to the Typhoon in Taiwan, my package has been delayed. That was a red flag, although the scammer made it sound realistic as I had just heard news about the Typhhon a couple of days ago. So the timing was well thought of. The moment I heard Taiwan, I knew this would be one more scam, and I told him that I have recorded the call and his number that its going straight to the cybercrime police. As he proceeded to counter attack, I just hung up.

My post is just to warn others that the scammers have got sophisticated using IVRs and the like. DOnt get fooled.
Also please ensure your family members don’t get sucked into sharing banking details, and pay heed to all the SMSs your baking partners send out regularly to not share any details, OTPs etc… I am sure we all have received these SMSes and have deleted them thinking they are annoying, but this is reminder to not fall prey to such scammers!

Cheers!

[silverado]

I am extremely sorry for your trauma and the monetory loss, however i also appreciate you posting this here due to which many others many be saved from this potential scam.

It takes a lot of guts to disclose that you were being scammed/fooled and i once again give you a for sharing this with us.
Everyday in papers we get to read about people losing lakhs to such scams and its normal well educated people like you and me.

I feel the best approach going ahead is to visit the nearest police station/ Cybercrime station if you are in big city and take advice.

[ketan007]

So sorry to hear about your friend's ordeal.
One simple thing to note is no legit person/organization asks you to do such things over a call or Skype call. They insist you visit the respective office and proceed from there.
And as mentioned by loki, never share your login creds or OTP with anyone over the phone.

[spgv]

Got a similar call, claiming the caller is from Customs department. My parcel has illegal stuff, parcel is verified by aadhar and other BS.
I asked for the calers ID and politely (extra) told them to do whatever they can to bring me to justice.

[urbanzameendar]

Received this email from UCO. Seems it has rattled everyone and not just limited to a single person.

[vmanu]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Is this call block tech android wide or a pixel only feature?

Spam protection feature is not pixel exclusive rather open for wider Androids. Please find below settings to be made if not set on by default:

[anjan_c2007]

Very sorry to read about the ordeal and what all transpired. Some points that come to my mind include:-

- Firstly, since the victim had no parcel or any consignment in transit in or through or from the localities mentioned it was prudent to suspect foul play by crooks.

- Secondly, how can a group of some people from somewhere, from some unknown organisation, at some point of time render not some, but full scale help to the victim selflessly and get fully involved, lock stock and barrel so devotedly and with such "unimpeachable" motivation. And the fact is that the victim was not known to any of those "helpers".

-Next I am not sure whether FEDEX asks for aadhar card of those who send consignments through them.

There are Apex Court guidelines to UIDAI as far as aadhar use by private entities is concerned:-

https://m.economictimes.com/tech/tec...w/99769150.cms

Other than an IT background or anything of that kind, a vigilant, repulsive and guarded approach is required while such fraudulent encounters happen.

Like we were since decades flooded with prize money wins through emails and at times now a days through social media platforms. Common sense says that without making any efforts or involvements of any kind, we can't win such prize money. And all that abstract bounty with the "generous" person awarding these just knowing our contact ids or numbers. Now the era of prize money is almost passe as most suspect a criminal angle. Hence, newer ingenious methodologies are getting invented to trap the gullible.

[Abhi99]

Thank you for sharing the experience. Online scams are the harsh reality today and they get the best of us. I can totally empathize with the person who got hit.

I am generally quite careful while dealing with folks online and never entertain such calls, but I do like to hunt for some good deals over different forums, online marketplaces, craigslist's etc. I have had splendid experiences buying some good stuff and dealing with some very nice folks over the years. I have bought some high end amps, Audio equipment, gadgets etc and never had a problem.

Recently, I joined an online group called "Milwaukee 8 used parts for sale". One fine day a post came up - some genuine looking account selling a saddlemen seat which I had been looking for. Everything looked fine - I checked the account of the person who put up the post and he had some posts online with lot of posts with his bike - so I contacted this guy. He quoted $300 for the seat ( new retails at $800+), but requested to send the money via paypal and mark it as friends and family. I did not read too much into it and ended up transferring the money. Took me a day to realize that I have been scammed. Since you cant dispute the transaction if its marked as friends and family - I ended up loosing $300.