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At some point or another, most people have experienced some form of online fraud. Whether it’s the fake army officer scam or job scams—it’s clear that in today’s world—we need to be alert to what’s fishy and what’s not. And that’s exactly what a woman from Bengaluru did when she prevented herself from being scammed by a fake FedEx agent. 

In an exclusive interaction with News18 Tech, Keka De, the woman who got the call, revealed how she avoided falling for the scam. On July 10, she received a call from someone claiming to be an executive from FedEx Mumbai. The person, using the number +91964453692, told her that a package had been sent out on July 5, 2023.

He claimed she had sent “illegal” objects—including 5 passports, 3 credit cards, 1 laptop, and even 150 gm of MDMA drugs to an address in Taipei, Taiwan. Keka De claims that the fake FedEX agent said that “the parcel had been confiscated by customs since it contained illegal items.” And, he added that she would have to reach out to Mumbai Police, and “register a complaint with Andheri East Police Station to avoid any trouble.”

De recounted that she was “sweating bullets,” thinking about how she could travel from Bangalore to Mumbai at such short notice to file a complaint.

This is where the situation took an extreme turn. The fake FedEx agent, under the pretext of helping her, allegedly “transferred” the call to the police.

“Suddenly, after an IVR message saying ‘transferring to Mumbai police cyber crime department,’ played,” and “someone pretending to be an officer, Naresh Kumar, started talking to me,” said Keka De.

The scammer, impersonating the police officer named Naresh Kumar, went on to warn Keka De about engaging in such activities. However, at the same time, the imposter also claimed that someone might have used her Aadhaar identification to commit the crime, attempting to gain her trust. 

The “officer” even disclosed several names of individuals he had arrested for similar offences and wanted Keka De to start a Skype call to register the complaint. When De grew suspicious and refused, the fraudster warned her not to end the call as it would be considered disrespectful to an “officer of the law.”

Keka De hung up the call and contacted FedEx customer care. As she suspected, there was no consignment with the tracking number ‘2289 3212 9105,’ and FedEx alerted her that it was a fraudulent call.

“I next called the Mumbai police helpline where I got a typical “aap Bangalore mein hain, Mumbai police kaise help karega?” response from the cop. She asked me to go to the local Thana.”

The FedEx or any type of parcel delivery scam is becoming very common across India since it was first reported way back in 2018. Readers are advised to check with the website of courier companies or online shopping platforms before falling for these scams. Just for information, customs in India don’t work over phone calls, WhatsApp calls or Skype. Neither will customs ask for UPI payments or online fund transfers.

And if you are actually ordering something from a legit online website that is licensed to operate in India then there’s no chance that customs would get involved as the products you are buying are most likely already shipped into India and it is the responsibility of the seller and not the buyer for delivery of any such product.