12 On Sept 19, I received a call from the New Delhi airport, with the person at the other end pretending to be a Customs official by the name of K Sumith. He asked me to speak to another police (airport department) officer. This man claimed that they had intercepted a parcel supposedly sent by me to a person (Wang Zhang) in Malaysia. He also gave me a parcel number, saying it contained 16 expired passports, 58 ATM cards, and 140gm of banned MDMA. They said the courier charges amounted to Rs 5,987.
Sumith connected me to one Sunil Kumar, sub-inspector, South Delhi Police, who took down my name, age, and address and then connected me to one Milind Barambe, the chief investigator of RBI. This man claimed I could be sent to three to seven years in prison and charged me with money laundering and human trafficking.
I was almost hypnotised and put under extreme stress. I was asked not to reveal anything, saying they would protect my money if I transferred the same from my two accounts. He also instructed me not to disclose it, as that would be a crime. They instructed me to transfer the money to a secret account.
After transferring the money (Rs 1.3 crore from one account and another Rs 15 lakh from another account), I realised my mistake. I then went to Alipore police station on the advice of my friend and son, who in turn directed me to the South Division Cyber Cell. The police then used the money chain to track accounts to bring back Rs 1.2 crore, one of the highest recoveries in recent times.
After my ordeal, I took to Facebook, at the request of Kolkata Police, to recount what I went through. I wanted to draw attention to elderly people like me about how my decision to move the Alipore Police and then the south division cyber cell within hours of the fraud helped me recover a large portion of the money.
In a world where technology is evolving everyday, it is very difficult for elderly people like me to keep track of the changing modus operandi. I would request everyone not to divulge personal details to anyone.
(Gangjee, 78, a resident of
Alipore and a retired teacher of
La Martiniere for Girls School, spoke to Dwaipayan Ghosh)
On Sept 19, I received a call from the New Delhi airport, with the person at the other end pretending to be a Customs official by the name of K Sumith. He asked me to speak to another police (airport department) officer. This man claimed that they had intercepted a parcel supposedly sent by me to a person (Wang Zhang) in Malaysia. He also gave me a parcel number, saying it contained 16 expired passports, 58 ATM cards, and 140gm of banned MDMA. They said the courier charges amounted to Rs 5,987.
Sumith connected me to one Sunil Kumar, sub-inspector, South Delhi Police, who took down my name, age, and address and then connected me to one Milind Barambe, the chief investigator of RBI. This man claimed I could be sent to three to seven years in prison and charged me with money laundering and human trafficking.
I was almost hypnotised and put under extreme stress. I was asked not to reveal anything, saying they would protect my money if I transferred the same from my two accounts. He also instructed me not to disclose it, as that would be a crime. They instructed me to transfer the money to a secret account.
After transferring the money (Rs 1.3 crore from one account and another Rs 15 lakh from another account), I realised my mistake. I then went to Alipore police station on the advice of my friend and son, who in turn directed me to the South Division Cyber Cell. The police then used the money chain to track accounts to bring back Rs 1.2 crore, one of the highest recoveries in recent times.
After my ordeal, I took to Facebook, at the request of Kolkata Police, to recount what I went through. I wanted to draw attention to elderly people like me about how my decision to move the Alipore Police and then the south division cyber cell within hours of the fraud helped me recover a large portion of the money.
In a world where technology is evolving everyday, it is very difficult for elderly people like me to keep track of the changing modus operandi. I would request everyone not to divulge personal details to anyone.
(Gangjee, 78, a resident of
Alipore and a retired teacher of
La Martiniere for Girls School, spoke to Dwaipayan Ghosh)
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