Mumbai: A 38-year-old homemaker from Sakinaka, the wife of an auto-rickshaw driver, lost Rs 38,000 after she fell for a social media post and was later threatened and blackmailed with arrest and jail by scammers, Sakinaka police said.The FIR was registered on Wednesday after the woman was duped between July 4 and 6. Police said the scammer sent pictures in police uniform to her WhatsApp number, along with videos of people being beaten by the police, and threatened her with seven years in jail if she did not transfer money through UPI.Police said the fraud began on June 17 when the homemaker was watching reels on her Facebook account and saw a reel from a Facebook account named Indiawala. In the complaint, PS Gaikwad said: “In that reel, it was stated, ‘I am an orphan, my entire family died in a road accident. If anyone wants to connect with me, please send a ‘Hi’ to the mobile number given below.’ I felt pity for him and sent him a ‘Hi’ message. After that, I suddenly received a call from mobile number 7807594343.”Gaikwad said the caller claimed he transferred money to her account and demanded it back. “I am Aman and Rs 30,000 has been credited to your bank account. Please return it to me. I told him that I had not received any money. He then started abusing me, so I disconnected the call. Later I received multiple calls from various mobile numbers threatening me, saying the person is calling from the police station. If you don’t return the money, you will get seven years in jail,” said Gaikwad in the FIR.According to police, the scammer used a unique modus operandi and extracted money by making her transfer funds via UPI at least 28 times, including Rs 1,000 each 18 times and Rs 2,000 five times, before she realised she was duped. A police officer said, “Between July 4 and 6, they told her that if she wanted to get out of this, she should send money to the scanner they had sent, and she made 28 fund transfers for Rs 38,000 before suspecting something amiss.”Police said the complainant was left scared after the incident before she gathered courage to approach the police station with a complaint. “The team has sought details from the UPI payment and the bank’s nodal officer to track the accused. The complainant was left scared after the incident before gathering courage and approached with a complaint,” said a police officer of the Sakinaka police station.
