'DAWOOD IBRAHIM IS MY CHACHA': JOURNALIST OUTWITS SCAMMERS WHO IMPERSONATED MUMBAI COP
An online scam involving a gang of fraudsters who have been allegedly impersonating a Mumbai police officer is being widely discussed on X (formerly Twitter). The conversation began after an investigative journalist shared a lengthy account of his encounter with the "sophisticated scammers" whom he outwitted using a reference of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Â
"The entire call lasted about 1 hour and I was quite convinced that it was genuine," Saurav Das said, as he warned people in his now-viral post about the scam. One of the fraudsters, according to a screenshot shared by Saurav, also pretended to be the Mumbai cop named 'Pradip Sawant'.
Pradip Sawant currently serves as the DCP Security Branch in Mumbai Police.
The first call that Saurav received was through an automated voice call "saying it's from" the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). "The robot said my number would get blocked in 2 hours and press 9 for more info."
"That led me to the first guy who pretended to be from the Telecom Division. He told me someone in Bombay Andheri East has lodged a complaint against a number registered through my Aadhaar for illegal advertising and harassing texts. Apparently, the @MumbaiPolice have sent them the blocking request and so TRAI would have to block all the numbers associated with the owner," Saurav added.
This person also shared "details of the FIR" with Saurav and told him that the call was being forwarded to the Andheri East police station. "He asked me to ask the police to send them a 'clarification letter' that my original number is mine and I am not associated with the case to avoid the block. 'There are a lot of identity theft going on in India' he said."
Thereafter, he said, "That led me to the second guy who told me he's the police SI in Mumbai Police. He took some details and said my statement would have to be recorded since I can't be physically present in Bombay."
Next, Saurav received a video call from a "third guy" who was in a police uniform and "spoke good English". The number of this "third guy" was shared by Saurav in his post along with a screenshot of the call page that identified him as Pradip Sawant. A purported logo of Maharashtra Police was also seen in the image.
"First hint of doubt, no Marathi accent," was what struck Saurav to begin with. "Called his Head Constable in English and passed an order 'to investigate my case. I played along."
What Saurav did next was a rather witty move. "The fourth guy, the HC, then was recording my 'statement' and asked for my Aadhaar number which I cited wrongly. I wanted to see what they do with it. The guy was talking on the walkie-talkie (some good production). Apparently, I was involved in a '65-crore money laundering case'. This got too funny there and honestly, cringe. 'Kya aap kuch chhupa rahe ho hum se,' he asked. I told him Dawood is my chacha. 'Who Dawood?' he wondered. 'Dawood Ibrahim. He's my chacha (uncle)'. I told them to piss off and that was it."
Urging Mumbai Police to take note of his post as scammers are impersonating them, Saurav concluded: "The point is that the scammers are now a lot more sophisticated in their tactics. I don't see a reason why my parents, older generation won't fall for this. I bought the entire skit for 30 minutes."
See Saurav's post here:
As the post went viral, several others shared similar experiences who also received a call from the fake 'Pradip Sawant'. A fake identity card of Pradip Sawant is also being widely circulated by scamsters, an X user claimed. The Mumbai Police, in fact, also responded to her post.
The fake ID card of 'Pradip Sawant' has been purportedly created using the police officer's image from Wikipedia in order to deceive people. An Odisha resident lost Rs 5 lakh in such a scam last month and filed a complaint soon after.
In Pune, a woman was reportedly duped of Rs 19 lakh by an online scamster who also claimed to be 'Pradip Sawant' from the "Narcotics Cell".
2024-04-24T14:50:34Z dg43tfdfdgfd