Nithin Kamath, the CEO of Zerodha, recently warned about a new scam that is being perpetrated by people who are impersonating FedEx and BlueDart employees.
In a Twitter thread, Kamath said that one of his colleagues had received a call from someone who claimed to be from FedEx. The caller told the colleague that their parcel had been confiscated by the police because it contained drugs. The caller then asked the colleague to pay a fine in order to have the parcel released.
"There's a new scam in the name of FedEx, Blue Dart, and other courier companies that you need to be aware of. A colleague got a call from a person claiming to be from FedEx saying that a parcel had been confiscated by the police because drugs were found in it,” Zerodha CEO and co-founder tweeted.
"Since he was expecting a courier from an e-commerce platform, he panicked. He then got a video call from someone claiming to be the police and issued this official-looking letter. They shared the bank details to transfer funds to release the package," he added.
"Since the fake police had his AADHAR number, this made the entire ordeal more convincing. This person panicked & transferred the money immediately. If this can happen to a person working in a company that constantly sensitizes everyone to cyber fraud, it can happen to anyone," Kamath said in another tweet.
While advising people on how to deal with such calls, Kamath said, "In a situation like this, the best thing is to say, I will get my lawyer to speak to you; it doesn't matter even if you don't have a lawyer. Most fraudsters prey on people who panic and react instinctively. Slowing down before reacting is the key."
Kamath said that this is a common scam and that FedEx and BlueDart would never call you to demand payment for a fine. He advised people to hang up if they receive a call like this and to call the courier company directly to verify the authenticity of the call.
Several Twitter users replied to Nithin Kamath's tweet sharing their ordeal in regard to the new type of online fraud in India. Here are some of the tweets:
“I also received a call from someone claiming to be from FedEx. They said that my parcel had been confiscated by the police because it contained drugs. They asked me to pay a fine in order to have the parcel released. I hung up and called FedEx directly, and they told me that it was a scam,” a user tweeted.
“This type of scam is going on for months. One of my friends got such a call around four months ago and another friend got the same kind of call two months ago. Everyone needs to be very careful because scamsters build up new stories every time,” another one commented.
“I received a call from someone claiming to be from the IRS. They said that I owed money in taxes and that I needed to pay immediately. They asked me to provide my credit card number and my Social Security number. I hung up and called the IRS directly, and they told me that it was a scam,” a third user wrote.