How this Delhi journalist thwarted 'Mumbai Police' scammers: 'Told him Dawood is my chacha'

'I don’t see a reason why my parents, the older generation won’t fall for this. I bought the entire skit for 30 minutes,' the journalist said. (Representational image)

A Delhi-based independent journalist has shared how on Wednesday he thwarted an attempt by scamsters who pretended to be officials from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Mumbai police over a call. Saurav Das said that the call lasted for about an hour and even he was almost convinced that it was talking to real officials in the first 30 minutes.

"Today morning I received a call from better sophisticated scammers. The entire call lasted about 1 hour and I was quite convinced that it was genuine," Das wrote on X. "The scammers initially called me through an automated voice call (+91 8112-178017) saying it was from TRAI. The robot said my number would get blocked in 2 hours and press 9 for more info."

After he pressed 9, Das was directed to a person who said he was 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 Mumbai Police have sent them the blocking request and so TRAI would have to block all the numbers associated with the owner," Das said.

He was given the details of the alleged FIR and was told that the call was being forwarded to the Andheri East police station. Das was also told to get a “clarification letter” from the police that his phone number was indeed his and that he was not associated with the case to avoid the number being blocked. The letter was to be sent to TRAI, the journalist was told. The alleged official apparently also told Das that "there are a lot of identity thefts going on in India”.

Next, he was directed to an alleged sub-inspector of Mumbai Police who said that Das's statement would have to be recorded since he couldn't be physically present in Mumbai. Das then received a video call from a person in police uniform who spoke good English. Das said that he started to get suspicious while talking to this person because of his lack of a Marathi accent.

During the call, the "officer" apparently called his head constable in English and passed an order “to investigate” the case. "I played along," Das said.

While speaking with the head constable who was supposed to record the "statement", Das was asked for his Aadhaar number, he gave an incorrect number to see what they do with it. "The guy was talking on the walkie-talkie (some good production). Apparently, I was involved in a “Rs 65-crore money laundering case”. This got too funny there and honestly, cringe. 'Kya aap kuch chhupa rahe ho hum see (what are you hiding from us)?' he asked," Das said.

"I told him Dawood is my chacha. 'Who Dawood?' he wondered. 'Dawood Ibrahim. He’s my chacha (uncle)'. He told me 'we’ll arrest you'. I told him 'Dubai aana padega phir toh (You'll have to come to Dubai for it)'," Das said before disconnecting the call.

Pointing out that scammers are now a lot more sophisticated in their tactics, he urged the Mumbai Police and the cyber security wing of the Ministry of Home Affairs to look into the matter. "I don’t see a reason why my parents, the older generation won’t fall for this. I bought the entire skit for 30 minutes," Das said.