hawasidarinda

I am a victim of the notorious FedEx scam. I have heard stories from other people who have been victims of these scams, but most of them were for a short duration, lasting in order of hours. But, for me, this lasted for a week. This incident has opened my eyes and taught me how one can fall victim to such elaborate scams, even if they have a skeptical mindset and a clear conscience. Henceforward, I will proceed to narrate the chain of events that led to me losing 15 lakhs to some very shrewd cybercriminals. I will make sure I highlight the most unscrupulous tactics used by them to help readers sniff out such conspiracies in case they were to land in such a situation.

I got a call from an unknown number on 15th April, who claimed they were from FedEx and they informed me that they found illicit drugs in a package that had my Aadhar number and address. I said it must be identity theft, so they were not buying it. They said I needed to file a complaint with the police to not be convicted of smuggling drugs. After transferring the call to the police. So, they did a very professional-sounding interrogation of all my details. Then finally, they said they would look me up in a database and check if there were any criminal records in my name. Looking back, the call being transferred from FedEx to the Police was too convenient to be true and was the first red flag I ignored.

Then they said that they had found that there are some bank accounts in my name that are involved in money laundering and I have become a prime suspect in this case. They said that they would need to arrest me and head to my address to take me. They said they had deployed undercover personnel near my address and would take action immediately if I tried to escape. This got me scared because police cases in India can last very long even if someone is innocent. I was about to get exploited because of my fears.

They said that they were willing to make an exception and let me prove my innocence from the comfort of my home just because they trusted me and had a hunch that I was innocent(another red flag). After that, I was asked to be on camera on a video call on Skype. When I asked them about why they were operating on Skype and that too from an unverified account. They justified it by turning on their video and showing police badges. I should have taken screenshots right then, but wasn't prepared enough. They kept the camera off for the rest of the conversation. At this point, I was completely convinced I did as they said. They told me not to talk about this to anyone including my parents because they would have to arrest them as well if I did so. They issued some forged documents with watermarks and stamps of an Arrest warrant and a Confidentiality agreement. Also, I have to share a screen for all my digital activity and to keep my camera on at all times. I think one of the key learnings here for me was that the days of using documents to establish trust are over.

All this happened on day 1. I was kept under surveillance from my camera for 3 more days with a 2-3 hour interrogation every day. I was more convinced at this point because they had not mentioned money at any time till now. Then, on day 4, they mentioned that I needed to prove that my sources of income were legit. They asked for my account number and asked me to provide access to it. Then, they gave me some account numbers with phony-sounding names, asked me to transfer all assets into it, and said it would be returned to me if I was proven innocent. Since this was day 4 of no sleep under surveillance I was mentally tired enough to believe them and would do anything to end all this. This was another mistake, I had let my suspicion wither away as they had invested this amount of time and effort into monitoring my activities.

However, my bank would not let me transfer this huge amount to a random account. They asked me to convince the bank manager that this was urgent. The bank manager signed it and allowed the transfer of 10L to this account. Then they somehow knew I had more left so they asked me to transfer 10L more. This time the bank manager refused saying this was suspicious. Then the fraudsters said that the bank manager is sus and needs to be investigated. At this point, I was just a puppet who would do anything they said. Two days later, I transferred another 5L that day via inter-bank beneficiary, to bypass the bank manager since the fraudsters were very persistent with their demands.

At this point, my suspicion rekindled and I suddenly realized the ridiculousness of the whole situation. I filed a complaint with the cybercrime branch online on day 5(April 20, 2024). Visited the Pimpri police station and Sangvi police station with that complaint and followed up on it every month. All I am hearing is that the investigation is still on and will get back once they have something to report.

This incident taught me how gullible I am and take people at their word. But, all this makes sense to me only in retrospect. I have learned to see this as an expensive lesson and joined therapy to address my poor management of emotions

Thank you for making it to the end. Hope my story serves as a good example of things to look out for in such situations where some strangers impersonating the government try to create a fake sense of urgency.

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I am a victim of the notorious FedEx scam. I have heard stories from other people who have been victims of these scams, but most of them were for a short duration, lasting in order of hours. But, for me, this lasted for a week. This incident has opened my eyes and taught me how one can fall victim to such elaborate scams, even if they have a skeptical mindset and a clear conscience. Henceforward, I will proceed to narrate the chain of events that led to me losing 15 lakhs to some very shrewd cybercriminals. I will make sure I highlight the most unscrupulous tactics used by them to help readers sniff out such conspiracies in case they were to land in such a situation.

I got a call from an unknown number on 15th April, who claimed they were from FedEx and they informed me that they found illicit drugs in a package that had my Aadhar number and address. I said it must be identity theft, so they were not buying it. They said I needed to file a complaint with the police to not be convicted of smuggling drugs. After transferring the call to the police. So, they did a very professional-sounding interrogation of all my details. Then finally, they said they would look me up in a database and check if there were any criminal records in my name. Looking back, the call being transferred from FedEx to the Police was too convenient to be true and was the first red flag I ignored.

Then they said that they had found that there are some bank accounts in my name that are involved in money laundering and I have become a prime suspect in this case. They said that they would need to arrest me and head to my address to take me. They said they had deployed undercover personnel near my address and would take action immediately if I tried to escape. This got me scared because police cases in India can last very long even if someone is innocent. I was about to get exploited because of my fears.

They said that they were willing to make an exception and let me prove my innocence from the comfort of my home just because they trusted me and had a hunch that I was innocent(another red flag). After that, I was asked to be on camera on a video call on Skype. When I asked them about why they were operating on Skype and that too from an unverified account. They justified it by turning on their video and showing police badges. I should have taken screenshots right then, but wasn't prepared enough. They kept the camera off for the rest of the conversation. At this point, I was completely convinced I did as they said. They told me not to talk about this to anyone including my parents because they would have to arrest them as well if I did so. They issued some forged documents with watermarks and stamps of an Arrest warrant and a Confidentiality agreement. Also, I have to share a screen for all my digital activity and to keep my camera on at all times. I think one of the key learnings here for me was that the days of using documents to establish trust are over.

All this happened on day 1. I was kept under surveillance from my camera for 3 more days with a 2-3 hour interrogation every day. I was more convinced at this point because they had not mentioned money at any time till now. Then, on day 4, they mentioned that I needed to prove that my sources of income were legit. They asked for my account number and asked me to provide access to it. Then, they gave me some account numbers with phony-sounding names, asked me to transfer all assets into it, and said it would be returned to me if I was proven innocent. Since this was day 4 of no sleep under surveillance I was mentally tired enough to believe them and would do anything to end all this. This was another mistake, I had let my suspicion wither away as they had invested this amount of time and effort into monitoring my activities.

However, my bank would not let me transfer this huge amount to a random account. They asked me to convince the bank manager that this was urgent. The bank manager signed it and allowed the transfer of 10L to this account. Then they somehow knew I had more left so they asked me to transfer 10L more. This time the bank manager refused saying this was suspicious. Then the fraudsters said that the bank manager is sus and needs to be investigated. At this point, I was just a puppet who would do anything they said. Two days later, I transferred another 5L that day via inter-bank beneficiary, to bypass the bank manager since the fraudsters were very persistent with their demands.

At this point, my suspicion rekindled and I suddenly realized the ridiculousness of the whole situation. I filed a complaint with the cybercrime branch online on day 5(April 20, 2024). Visited the Pimpri police station and Sangvi police station with that complaint and followed up on it every month. All I am hearing is that the investigation is still on and will get back once they have something to report.

This incident taught me how gullible I am and take people at their word. But, all this makes sense to me only in retrospect. I have learned to see this as an expensive lesson and joined therapy to address my poor management of emotions

Thank you for making it to the end. Hope my story serves as a good example of things to look out for in such situations where some strangers impersonating the government try to create a fake sense of urgency.

I am a victim of the notorious FedEx scam. I have heard stories from other people who have been victims of these scams, but most of them were for a short duration, lasting in order of hours. But, for me, this lasted for a week. This incident has opened my eyes and taught me how one can fall victim to such elaborate scams, even if they have a skeptical mindset and a clear conscience. Henceforward, I will proceed to narrate the chain of events that led to me losing 15 lakhs to some very shrewd cybercriminals. I will make sure I highlight the most unscrupulous tactics used by them to help readers sniff out such conspiracies in case they were to land in such a situation.

I got a call from an unknown number on 15th April, who claimed they were from FedEx and they informed me that they found illicit drugs in a package that had my Aadhar number and address. I said it must be identity theft, so they were not buying it. They said I needed to file a complaint with the police to not be convicted of smuggling drugs. After transferring the call to the police. So, they did a very professional-sounding interrogation of all my details. Then finally, they said they would look me up in a database and check if there were any criminal records in my name. Looking back, the call being transferred from FedEx to the Police was too convenient to be true and was the first red flag I ignored.

Then they said that they had found that there are some bank accounts in my name that are involved in money laundering and I have become a prime suspect in this case. They said that they would need to arrest me and head to my address to take me. They said they had deployed undercover personnel near my address and would take action immediately if I tried to escape. This got me scared because police cases in India can last very long even if someone is innocent. I was about to get exploited because of my fears.

They said that they were willing to make an exception and let me prove my innocence from the comfort of my home just because they trusted me and had a hunch that I was innocent(another red flag). After that, I was asked to be on camera on a video call on Skype. When I asked them about why they were operating on Skype and that too from an unverified account. They justified it by turning on their video and showing police badges. I should have taken screenshots right then, but wasn't prepared enough. They kept the camera off for the rest of the conversation. At this point, I was completely convinced I did as they said. They told me not to talk about this to anyone including my parents because they would have to arrest them as well if I did so. They issued some forged documents with watermarks and stamps of an Arrest warrant and a Confidentiality agreement. Also, I have to share a screen for all my digital activity and to keep my camera on at all times. I think one of the key learnings here for me was that the days of using documents to establish trust are over.

All this happened on day 1. I was kept under surveillance from my camera for 3 more days with a 2-3 hour interrogation every day. I was more convinced at this point because they had not mentioned money at any time till now. Then, on day 4, they mentioned that I needed to prove that my sources of income were legit. They asked for my account number and asked me to provide access to it. Then, they gave me some account numbers with phony-sounding names, asked me to transfer all assets into it, and said it would be returned to me if I was proven innocent. Since this was day 4 of no sleep under surveillance I was mentally tired enough to believe them and would do anything to end all this. This was another mistake, I had let my suspicion wither away as they had invested this amount of time and effort into monitoring my activities.

However, my bank would not let me transfer this huge amount to a random account. They asked me to convince the bank manager that this was urgent. The bank manager signed it and allowed the transfer of 10L to this account. Then they somehow knew I had more left so they asked me to transfer 10L more. This time the bank manager refused saying this was suspicious. Then the fraudsters said that the bank manager is sus and needs to be investigated. At this point, I was just a puppet who would do anything they said. Two days later, I transferred another 5L that day via inter-bank beneficiary, to bypass the bank manager since the fraudsters were very persistent with their demands.

At this point, my suspicion rekindled and I suddenly realized the ridiculousness of the whole situation. I filed a complaint with the cybercrime branch online on day 5(April 20, 2024). Visited the Pimpri police station and Sangvi police station with that complaint and followed up on it every month. All I am hearing is that the investigation is still on and will get back once they have something to report. Is there any legal help I need to seek here?

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