Doctor forced to pay

A 50-year-old doctor, a resident of Baner became a victim of cyber criminals who manipulated him to pay ₹ 1 crore after being threatened that a parcel attributed to him was apprehended by the Mumbai crime branch for containing banned substances like drugs, foreign currency, five passports and a laptop.
According to the FIR, the doctor was forced to isolate himself in a hotel, made to stay on audio calls for ‘surveillance’ and was manipulated into liquidating investments to transfer the money to ‘government safe accounts’ by the cyber criminals.
The doctor was sceptical that his identity was being misused in drug trafficking and money laundering after which he readily gave into the demands of the cyber extortionists, the complaint stated.
Police Inspector Anil Mane of Cyber Police Station said that the accused resorted to the modus operandi of a ‘drugs in parcel’ scam and inflicted heavy manipulation on the victim during the first week of March, where they were able to gain complete control over him and forced him to transfer his money in their accounts.
A case has been lodged and further investigation is underway to determine the money trail to trace the accused, he said.