Man Outwits Scammers Impersonating As Mumbai Cops By Calling Dawood Ibrahim His 'Chacha'

While online payments have made financial transactions easier for millions of people worldwide, it has also exposed them to cybercriminals looking for ways to scam them of their hard-earned money with just a few clicks.

Now, a new scam seems to have emerged where “sophisticated scammers”, impersonating Mumbai Police officers, are duping people. A conversation began on the microblogging site X about the scam after an X user shared his encounter of outwitting these cybercriminals by calling underworld don Dawood Ibrahim his ‘uncle’.

Warning people about the scam, X user Saurav Das said he received the first call through an automated voice call, saying it was from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

“The entire call lasted about 1 hour and I was quite convinced that it was genuine…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,” he wrote.

According to Das, scammers told him that Mumbai police had sent TRAI the blocking request so it would have to block all the numbers associated with his Aadhar card.

This person also shared details of the FIR with Das and ‘forwarded’ the call to ‘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. 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. Then I received a video call from a third guy (+91 90324 07612). He was in a police uniform and spoke good English,” Das wrote.

According to a screenshot shared by Das, one of the fraudsters pretended to be the Mumbai cop named ‘Pradip Sawant’. A purported logo of Maharashtra Police was also seen in the image.

Pradip Sawant currently serves as the DCP Security Branch in Mumbai Police.

Das said he had the ‘first hint of doubt’ when the third ‘police officer’ had no Marathi accent.

He said the ‘third police officer’ “called his Head Constable in English and passed an order ‘to investigate my case.”

Das said he played along when the fourth guy, the ‘head constable’, recorded his ‘statement’ and asked for my Aadhaar number, which he 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’,” Das wrote.

“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,” he added.

Urging Mumbai Police to take note of his post about scammers impersonating them, Das said “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 mins.”

Das’s post soon went viral on social media with several other people sharing their similar experiences.

Another user microblogger ‘Darshna’ shared a picture of a fake identity card of Pradip Sawant that is being widely circulated by scamsters.

“Apparently, they are also sharing this Identity Card of ‘Mr. Sawant’ when I got the same call,” she wrote.