The complainant felly prey to the cyber fraud when he received a message on WhatsApp from a person who kept a senior customs officer’s photo as the display picture

New Delhi, November 7

A fraudster who impersonated a senior customs officer defrauded a customs officer in Mumbai who sent the former Amazon gift cards of over Rs. 80,000 and got conned. 

The victim is an assistant commissioner with customs department in Mumbai. 

The police said the incident took place on November 1 around 4.30 pm. The complainant told the police he received a message on WhatsApp from a person who kept a senior customs officer’s photo as the display picture.

The complainant told the police that he saw the display picture and assumed the sender was his senior officer and it did not cross his mind to check if the mobile number was also of the senior officer.

The fraudster asked the complainant to send him Amazon gift cards. The complainant bought nine Amazon gift cards worth Rs 80,500 in total and sent those to the WhatsApp number, officials added. 

But when the fraudster asked for more gift cards, the complainant checked the mobile number and realised he was being cheated. 

This is yet another case of conning government officials with the photos of their senior officers from police, central agencies and even judiciary. 

The police have registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 419, 420 IT Act sections 66 C and 66D.