Mumbai: A 68-year-old fashion designer from Dadar was allegedly duped of ₹65,000 in a cyber fraud scheme, where the scammer pretending that her friend sent a parcel from London. The victim was asked to pay "custom clearance and handover charges" for the parcel, which was falsely said to have arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
According to the Police, the victim, Bennu Rajan Sehgal, resides with her husband and three daughters at Rajabhau Desai Marg, Prabhadevi, Dadar. On the morning of June 24, 2024, at around 8:32 AM, she received a WhatsApp message from the mobile number 6009217220, reportedly registered under telecom operator Jio.
The sender, posing as Sehgal’s old friend Arav Nitin Patel—whom she had met in London over a decade ago—claimed to have sent a parcel from the UK. The message stated that the parcel had reached Indira Gandhi International Airport and could only be released after a payment of ₹65,000 towards custom clearance and handover charges.
Believing the message to be genuine, Sehgal arranged for her domestic help, Pappu Lallan Mukhiya,22, to deposit the amount into an Indian Bank account under the name Raunak Mishra, as directed by the fraudster. Mukhiya deposited ₹46,000 via ATM and ₹19,000 via deposit slip at the Indian Bank branch on Veer Savarkar Marg, Mumbai.
Suspicion arose when Sehgal inquired about Patel’s whereabouts and learned that he was currently in Germany—not London. She then contacted airport authorities but found no record of any parcel.
Realizing she had been scammed, Sehgal filed a complaint with the Dadar Police Station. An FIR has been registered under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Police have launched an investigation and are currently tracing the unidentified accused linked to the Jio mobile number.
