"Even the most intelligent individuals may find themselves outsmarted under stress, as the pressure of the moment can cloud judgment and compromise decision-making."
My friend Mike (that's definitely not his name, so don't go searching for him on LinkedIn) mocked this statement when he saw this a couple of months back. He was confident in his ability to think clearly no matter how overwhelming the situation was. That was until tonight when he got a reality check.
It's pretty convenient to read about a scam online and think - "Yeah, I'd never fall for that!". Mike thought he was too smart and careful to be deceived.
Even the most prepared individuals can fall victim to scams or online manipulation. Mike is the most technically sound, careful, and vigilant person I know. However, here I am writing his story.
At around 1.00 pm today, Mike got a call from FedEx regarding a shipment. He was expecting a credit card to be delivered to his house, so he picked it up and immediately enquired about it. We were on our way out, so he didn't want to waste any time.
The FedEx executive, Amit Kumar, confirmed that the credit card was on its way, but there's something more pressing that he'd like to bring to Mike's concern. Mike really didn't have time for this, but he reluctantly held on to the call. I saw the annoyance on his face turn into a look of disquiet. He went back to his room and started typing hurriedly on his laptop.
Amit informed him that a parcel in his name was held up by Customs at the Mumbai Airport. This parcel was headed to Taiwan and consisted of 5 Passports, 4 ATM Cards, 1 Laptop, 150g MDMA, 4kg Clothes, and 1 Pair of Shoes. The receiver of this parcel was Zhang Lin, and payment was already made via an ICICI bank credit card ending in 2124.
Amit suggested that Mike immediately raise this with the Mumbai Cybercrime Department before they reach out to him. He was glad to transfer the call himself, in case Mike didn't know how to get in touch with them.
Mike was in a hurry, but he wanted to get this over with. He waited for the call to get transferred. An uninterested police officer picked up his phone and started noting down the details of his complaint. That was until the police officer heard "MDMA", and got really suspicious of Mike. He repeatedly questioned Mike about his involvement with drug dealing and gave his word that if Mike didn't cooperate, he would trace him down and put him in jail.
I was in the living room sipping from a can of Diet Coke (this article is not sponsored) and watching whatever show was playing on the TV with Mike's brother. Mike dashed out of his room and announced that he was on a very important call, and nobody should step inside his room until he commands otherwise. "Eh, whatever", I thought, as I kept watching the TV show unaware of what was going on in the room.
The police officer, Naresh Gupta Banerjee, asked Mike to immediately fly down to Mumbai. Mike was reluctant, he honestly didn't think he was worth the effort. Naresh warned him that identity theft is a huge case, and he should either be present in person, or over live video to make a statement that he is innocent. Mike, of course, chose the latter, as it was less inconvenient. He got a Skype ID cid.12260ae799688951 from Naresh.
Well, it started with CID, which made Mike wonder if it probably stands for the Crime Investigation Department. As he got on a call with Naresh to make his statement, Naresh immediately shared his police ID and started recording the call. Mike gave a comprehensive testimony of all the events that happened since the morning, regarding the FedEx courier, and pleaded innocent as he was not involved in any of this. Naresh recorded his testimony and requested verification from the finance department to verify that Mike's ID was not used in any other illegal transactions. To his surprise, Mike was told that 3 bank accounts were opened in Mumbai using his name and phone number, and they were directly linked to a recent money-laundering case.
A little worried, but confident about his innocence, Mike requested Naresh to do whatever it took to prove himself innocent. Naresh was kind enough to get Mike in touch with Dr. Balsing Rajput, a DCB at the Mumbai police station. Mike quickly Googled who this was, and verified that Dr. Balsing was, in fact, an "Officer on Special Duty at Chief Minister of Maharashtra Office". He seemed legit, so Mike was ready to share his testimony. Dr. Balsing mentioned that several people have been arrested over this money laundering case of millions of dollars. Mike hadn't heard about this, but he figured that maybe he wasn't up to date with the news. He complied with everything the man had to say, shared his bank statements, and verified that there were no fraudulent transactions in his name.
Uncharacteristically, Mike was somewhat worried at this point. He had completely forgotten about going out, which he was initially really excited about. Dr. Balsing informed him that the finance department had found evidence of money laundering using his identity, and it could be a threat to his future. The only way he could help Mike out was if he cooperated with them and did as they asked.
Mike was pretty tired at this point, it had been hours since he got the first call from FedEx, and Dr. Balsing kept him waiting. He really wanted to get out of this room he was stuck in for so long. Finally, Dr. Balsing told Mike that the finance department had created a "bogus" account in the name of "AEXYZW", and he should transfer an amount of Rs. 89,898 so that they could confirm that the transactions from his account were not involved in the money laundering case. Mike wondered to himself that he'd probably do the same, as it would be easy to identify a transaction of Rs. 89,898 using a regular expression. He agreed to do it, at least that would get him out of this mess. They also sent him a document with an official RBI stamp saying that the money would be credited back to his account within 15 minutes. Finally, Dr. Balsing suggested that the "AEXYZW" account name would be quite suspicious and if someone had hacked into Mike's account, he'd get cautious if he saw that transaction. He changed the bogus account's name to "S E ENTERPRISES" and asked Mike to make the transaction.
Mike sent a screenshot of the transaction hoping that finally he'll be proven innocent. They were on call for another hour, with no communication from Dr. Balsing. Mike had had it, he told Dr. Balsing that he had to go to the washroom, just so that he could get out of his room. Dr. Balsing, in a concerned tone, asked him if he had lunch. Mike was surprised at the shift in tone and was relieved to be able to go out of his room. After having eaten a little something, Mike joined the call again, and he was told that the investigation was to be continued in the morning, so he could drop off the call and carry on with his regular activities, as long as he kept informing them every hour about his whereabouts.
Tired and weary, Mike obliged. He was finally able to take a breath of fresh air on his balcony when he wondered who this money launderer was, and how has he not heard about him. Then, he wondered if Naresh Gupta Banerjee was a weird name, and decided to look him up. To his horror, he stumbled upon this article.
MUMBAI: Beware of the identity card 'Naresh Gupta Banerjee'. Neither has the card been issued to a cop, nor is someone posted with Mumbai police by such a name. Mumbai police chief Vivek Phansalkar pointed out that the ID card looks foolproof, which is what makes it dangerous. Cyber experts said fraudsters have duped at least a hundred individuals in recent months using the fake ID card.
He immediately called his bank and reported the transaction ID for fraud. He demanded that all outgoing transactions from his account be canceled immediately. It didn't matter though, as the damage was already done. What was just an intelligent regular expression to him was the amount of money he had lost today.
Like I said before - you might think "That was so obvious, I wouldn't fall for something like that". Well, so did Mike, and 4 other people in the last 15 days; and they all got robbed of huge sums of money.
Mike gave away information about his credit card being delivered, which the scammers later used to gain his trust. Under his predicament, he didn't even get his ID cross-checked, he just gave it away to Naresh. Small pieces of information piled up, which gave the fraudsters enough information to gain his trust. Anyone could end up in Mike's situation, and many of us probably have. Come forward and share your story, so that you can save someone else from making the same mistakes.
Protecting ourselves online requires not only knowledge and awareness but also humility and a willingness to acknowledge our vulnerabilities. Cybercriminals keep coming up with novel methods of cybercrime that might fool the smartest amongst us, it's wise to hear someone else's story and learn from their mistakes if you do not want to be a victim yourself.