How a Mumbai woman thwarted scammers posing as police officers

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A 35-year-old woman from Mumbai has managed to turn the tables on some online scammers, when posing as cops, they tried to extract her bank account details. Kavita Patkar, a homemaker, has now filed a complaint with the police as well, after realizing that she had inadvertently given them her Aadhaar details and photographs. 


In the complaint filed with the police, Ms Patkar said she had received a call, which initially was a recorded message saying her mobile phone services will be disconnected soon. To know why, she was asked to press 1. 


When she did so, a man identifying himself as Rohit Singh came on call, posing as TRAI official, and explained her number was used to defraud around 15 to 20 people, who had all lodged a complaint against the number holder. 


He asked if she had lost her Aadhaar card or given it to someone who might have used it to get the phone number used in this crime. 


When Ms Patkar responded in the negative, he told her she would be connected to an officer from the Crime Branch, and she can email [email protected] to keep her phone number operative.


Soon, she was connected to another man, who introduced himself as a police officer, Sanjay Singh. He first asked for her photo and an image of her Aadhaar card on WhatsApp. Then he said he would question her on video call. She complied with his instructions. In the video call, he was seen in a Mumbai police uniform and Mumbai police logo was in the background.
Singh informed her that her account with the ICICI bank was used to receive 10 per cent of the Rs 2.60 crore laundered by a Pooja Mhatre. 


He proceeded to show her photos of five "suspects", asking her if she recognised any of them. After she denied knowing them, he asked her for her bank account details as proof that it was not being used by the accused, failing which she would be jailed for two years.


Ms Patkar then realised something was amiss, and informed him that she would the police in person at the CP office and provide all documents.


The man immediately disconnected after which Ms Patkar filed an FIR as she had sent them her photos and Aadhar card.