Pune: Cybercriminals impersonating an IT engineer from the UK and officials from the customs department and the CBI in Delhi, allegedly cheated an IT data analyst of Rs 11.52 lakh between Dec last year and Jan this year by threatening her with arrest in a drug trafficking and illegal activity case.Loni Kalbhor police said the victim, a resident of Kawadipath, lodged a complaint on Saturday. She works with an IT company in Hadapsar.Senior inspector Rajendra Panhale of the Loni Kalbhor police told TOI, “The victim had an account on a social media platform. On Dec 5 last year, the suspects befriended her on the platform and began communicating with her. who claimed to be a software engineer based in the UK. The fraudster later promised to send her an expensive mobile phone as a gift.”“Soon after, she received a call from another fraudster posing as a customs officer. He told her she was involved in drug trafficking and other illegal activities. He claimed that a parcel that had arrived at the Delhi airport, bearing her name as the recipient, contained contraband,” Panhale said.“The so-called customs official then told her that the CBI had taken over the case for further investigation. Subsequently, another suspect called her, claiming to be a CBI officer. He sent her a fake and fabricated FIR naming her as an accused and threatened her with arrest,” he added.“The fraudsters then demanded money under the pretext of customs duties and court charges. They assured her they would help her in the case if she paid them. The victim eventually sold her jewellery and exhausted her savings to transfer the money to the suspects,” he said.
