This is a real story happened to a close friend of mine. She wanted me to write this so that people know about such scam, become alert and they don't fall prey.
You must be receiving fb friend request from many unknown people, some of them would be from countries like UK, US, middle east etc . These people would hold good professional positions like jet pilot , merchant navy , business man etc . Also if their target is a married person their dp will be with another person - a child or lady or senior citizen . This is a simple trick to portray that they are good family people happily married , love their children, love their parents etc . If thier target are young girls, their dp would be in smart formal attire or on duty pics of pilot, merchant navy etc . All these are nothing but psychological game to show that they are good and financially settled people. Never ever accept friend request from these kind of profiles. They are all fake profiles probably operating from somewhere in india.
Similar thing happened with my friend. She received a fb friend request from a similar profile, someone who claimed to be from UK , his DP was with a small girl of around 3 years old. Normally my friend does not accept friend request from unknown people, initially she ignored this one also. Then this guy started pinging him on Messenger. And then an unlucky day happened when she was busy with many things that she unknowingly accepted the friend request. Let me tell you these guys are skilled conmen, very good in bluffing, very good actors. He started talking to my friend showing that his intention is to be good friends. He won the sympathy of my friend by telling fake story of his wife who died of cancer, his little girl is with his in-laws bla bla bla . From fb chat they moved to whatsapp chat and calls. They become very good friends .
This conman now knows that the time is right to execute the final game. He told my friend that a week after (a specific date was given) was his daughter's birthday and he is going to make it really big . He said he is going for his daughter's birthday shopping . He will get stuff for her and her husband also and will send by international courier. He asked my friend for her postal address for the courier delivery. My friend denied receiving anything , denied giving the address. But as expected he easily convinced her and she shared her postal address . The next day he texted her telling about his shopping day , he told her that he did some good shopping for her also. He has packed all stuff to be sent . He also added that since he doesn't know size of her husband , he has put some cash also inside so that she can buy something for her husband on his behalf .
Next update after a day was that he has sent the courier and it should reach her place in 3 days. He said he has sent through some super fast courier but the delivery charge has to be paid by her at her end. My friend asked her what would be the delivery charge, he said it would be around USD 500. She was shocked to hear such high delivery charge but then again he convinced him saying it's a super fast international courier bla bla bla ... "You can adjust with the cash i have put in the packet."
On the day of courier delivery , someone from the courier company called her and told her that her packet has arrived and she has to pay INR 45000 as delivery charge. Without suspecting and asking much question she agreed to pay the money. The courier guy sent the account details. My friend could have sensed something fishy seeing that the account name wasn't of a company but an individual, she missed this important check also. She made the payment without much hesitation. After sometime she got another call from the same courier company and said "Madam, on scanning we found out that there is a huge amount of euro inside the packet. Do you have foreign exchange certificate?". My friend said no. Then he said "Madam it is illegal to receive huge cash by courier, it would be around INR 30lac . You have to pay a fine of INR 1.11 lac and then you can take your packet." My friend was in shock and told him she will not pay any money , ask the sender to pay the money" . Then she called his friend and told him about what happened. He said he will talk to the courier guy and call back. After sometime he called back and said the same thing that she has to pay and there is no other way. He told my friend "You pay the money and adjust with the cash which i have sent which would be around INR 30 lac." By then my friend understood that it's a well planned scam. She told him "I don't have money, you transfer me INR 1.11 equivalent money to my bank account. I will transfer you back once i receive your euros." He tried really hard to convince my friend but this time my friend understood the entire game. She has already lost INR 45000. All these happened in a span of less than a month. She blocked the numbers of the fake UK guy and fake courier guy. Two important things she missed doing :
- filing a complain to RBI
- filing a police complain
You must be receiving fb friend request from many unknown people, some of them would be from countries like UK, US, middle east etc . These people would hold good professional positions like jet pilot , merchant navy , business man etc . Also if their target is a married person their dp will be with another person - a child or lady or senior citizen . This is a simple trick to portray that they are good family people happily married , love their children, love their parents etc . If thier target are young girls, their dp would be in smart formal attire or on duty pics of pilot, merchant navy etc . All these are nothing but psychological game to show that they are good and financially settled people. Never ever accept friend request from these kind of profiles. They are all fake profiles probably operating from somewhere in india.
Similar thing happened with my friend. She received a fb friend request from a similar profile, someone who claimed to be from UK , his DP was with a small girl of around 3 years old. Normally my friend does not accept friend request from unknown people, initially she ignored this one also. Then this guy started pinging him on Messenger. And then an unlucky day happened when she was busy with many things that she unknowingly accepted the friend request. Let me tell you these guys are skilled conmen, very good in bluffing, very good actors. He started talking to my friend showing that his intention is to be good friends. He won the sympathy of my friend by telling fake story of his wife who died of cancer, his little girl is with his in-laws bla bla bla . From fb chat they moved to whatsapp chat and calls. They become very good friends .
This conman now knows that the time is right to execute the final game. He told my friend that a week after (a specific date was given) was his daughter's birthday and he is going to make it really big . He said he is going for his daughter's birthday shopping . He will get stuff for her and her husband also and will send by international courier. He asked my friend for her postal address for the courier delivery. My friend denied receiving anything , denied giving the address. But as expected he easily convinced her and she shared her postal address . The next day he texted her telling about his shopping day , he told her that he did some good shopping for her also. He has packed all stuff to be sent . He also added that since he doesn't know size of her husband , he has put some cash also inside so that she can buy something for her husband on his behalf .
Next update after a day was that he has sent the courier and it should reach her place in 3 days. He said he has sent through some super fast courier but the delivery charge has to be paid by her at her end. My friend asked her what would be the delivery charge, he said it would be around USD 500. She was shocked to hear such high delivery charge but then again he convinced him saying it's a super fast international courier bla bla bla ... "You can adjust with the cash i have put in the packet."
On the day of courier delivery , someone from the courier company called her and told her that her packet has arrived and she has to pay INR 45000 as delivery charge. Without suspecting and asking much question she agreed to pay the money. The courier guy sent the account details. My friend could have sensed something fishy seeing that the account name wasn't of a company but an individual, she missed this important check also. She made the payment without much hesitation. After sometime she got another call from the same courier company and said "Madam, on scanning we found out that there is a huge amount of euro inside the packet. Do you have foreign exchange certificate?". My friend said no. Then he said "Madam it is illegal to receive huge cash by courier, it would be around INR 30lac . You have to pay a fine of INR 1.11 lac and then you can take your packet." My friend was in shock and told him she will not pay any money , ask the sender to pay the money" . Then she called his friend and told him about what happened. He said he will talk to the courier guy and call back. After sometime he called back and said the same thing that she has to pay and there is no other way. He told my friend "You pay the money and adjust with the cash which i have sent which would be around INR 30 lac." By then my friend understood that it's a well planned scam. She told him "I don't have money, you transfer me INR 1.11 equivalent money to my bank account. I will transfer you back once i receive your euros." He tried really hard to convince my friend but this time my friend understood the entire game. She has already lost INR 45000. All these happened in a span of less than a month. She blocked the numbers of the fake UK guy and fake courier guy. Two important things she missed doing :
- filing a complain to RBI
- filing a police complain
If she filed these two complain immediately, she could have got back her money. Dear all, sadly we are surrounded by such conman. Don't entertain any unknown person online or offline. Be alert , be cautious , listen to your inner conscience, be safe.
