Bengaluru Woman Uncovers Drug Smugglers After Receiving Suspicious FedEx Package
In today’s world, it is evident that we must remain vigilant to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent activities online, as most individuals have encountered some type of online fraud at some stage. This was precisely the approach taken by a woman from Bengaluru who successfully avoided falling victim to a fake FedEx agent scam.
The woman who received the call, Keka De, revealed in an exclusive interaction with ReturnByte Tech how she avoided being scammed. On July 10, he received a call from a person claiming to be a FedEx Mumbai executive. The person who used the number +91964453692 said that the package had been sent on July 5, 2023.
He claimed he had sent “illegal” items – including 5 passports, 3 credit cards, 1 laptop and up to 150 grams of MDMA to an address in Taipei, Taiwan. Keka De claims that the fake FedEX agent said “customs had seized the package because it contained illegal items.” And he added that he would have to contact the Mumbai police and “register a complaint at the Andheri East police station to avoid any trouble”.
De said she was “sweating bullets” wondering how she could travel from Bangalore to Mumbai on such short notice to file a complaint.
This is where the situation took an extreme turn. The fake FedEx agent allegedly “transferred” the call to the police under the pretense of helping him.
“Suddenly, after an IVR message saying ‘let’s transfer to cybercrime wing of Mumbai police’, there was a call” and “someone impersonating an officer, Naresh Kumar, started talking to me,” said Keka De.
A conman posing as a police officer named Naresh Kumar warned Keka De against engaging in such activities. However, at the same time, the scammer also claimed that someone might have used his Aadhaar identification to commit a crime in an attempt to gain his trust.
“Useri” even revealed several names of people he had arrested for similar crimes and wanted Keka De to initiate a Skype call to register a complaint. When De became suspicious and refused, the scammer warned her to hang up because it would be considered disrespectful to “law enforcement.”
Keka De hung up and contacted FedEx customer service. As he suspected, there was no shipment with a tracking number of 2289 3212 9105 and FedEx informed him that it was a fraudulent call.
“I next called the Mumbai Police helpline, where I got the typical ‘aap Bangalore mein hain, Mumbai Police kaise help karega?’ response from the police. He asked me to go to the local Thana.”
FedEx scam or any package delivery scam is becoming very common in India as it was first reported back in 2018. Readers are advised to check the website of courier companies or e-commerce platforms before falling for these scams. FYI, Indian Customs does not work through phone calls, WhatsApp calls or Skype. Customs also does not ask for UPI payments or online fund transfers.
And if you actually order something from a legitimate online site that’s licensed to operate in India, there’s no way that customs will get involved because the items you’ve bought have probably already been shipped to India and that’s the seller’s and seller’s responsibility. no buyer to supply such product.
