It was a morning like any other. I got a call from an unknown number. An automated computer voice said that my parcel sent through X delivery service was not successfully sent. It asked me to press "One" on the numpad to know more. I did. A male human voice answered, asked if my name was Harish and if I had sent any package using X delivery service to which I replied no and asked what this was about.
The next thing he told me was deeply troubling.
He told me that someone has used my identity (using a copy of my Aadhaar card which is a unique identity document for residents in India) to send a parcel from India to Iran. The parcel was not sent because of the contents of the parcel were suspected to have illegal items in it. The parcel was opened in Mumbai and the contents found were: 4 passports, 1 laptop, 4kg of clothes and 450grams of MDMA. He told me the parcel tracking number and the name (a muslim name) and phone number (an Iranian phone number) of the person to whom the parcel was sent to. He also told me that Rs.94,000 was paid for sending the parcel.
The first thing that came to my mind was, "there is a terrorist out there who has used my identity to smuggle goods".
I continued listening.
The man on the phone told me the same thing, that a terrorist could have done this and that the Mumbai Crime Branch was already on the case. He told me to note down an FIR (First Investigation Report) number that was filed by the Mumbai Police and he forwarded my call to another number which he told was that of a police person from Mumbai Crime Branch.
I was nervous.
I blurted out the details as soon as the policeman answered. "My Aadhaar details are being used by some terrorist to send items to Iran."
The policeman replied, "Calm down, what is your name and where are you calling from?"
"Sir, my name is Harish and I am calling from Chennai. I just received a call from X delivery service that my Aadhaar details have been used by someone to send a parcel from Mumbai to Iran and the parcel contains 4 passports, 1 laptop, 4kg of clothes and 450grams of MDMA"
"Do you know what MDMA is?" The policeman asked.
"Sir, I know that it is a drug." I replied, to which he answered "It is a drug that is completely banned in India."
"Sir please tell me what to do." I begged.
"What else were you told?" he asked, to which I answered that an amount of 94,000 rupees was paid by the person who sent that parcel.
He asked me to first check the transactions in my banking application to see if I lost any money recently to X delivery service. And I was trembling as I checked my transactions and found that I never lost any money from my account. I was relieved.
I told the policeman.
He then asked me what was the balance in my account.
Now I got suspicious. Why does the policeman need my account balance. What does it have to do with a person trying to use my identity to send a parcel to another country?
I had read about instances of people getting robbed of money when the caller puts the person in a difficult position and promises to get them out of that situation if they pay him some money.
So, after thinking about it, I lied to him that I have only 3000 rupees in my account.
He asked me if I have any other bank account to which I replied that I do have another account but do not have any mobile banking application for the same.
Yes, my guess was right. He was a fraud, a farzi.
He assured me that nothing will happen to me and not to worry about this episode. I thanked him and hung up the call.
But in the back of my mind, I still had a doubt that my personal identity might have been used by someone else. I spoke about what happened to my mother. She got worried and called a trusted friend. The friend told us that it must be a con man who had tried to trick us into giving them some money and not to worry about it since I didn't send them any.
Later, when I told this to my father, he advised me not to pick up calls from unknown numbers and to install the Truecaller app on my phone.
Slowly, my mind came out the situation and I began believing that I have just been cheated by some criminals and I need to be careful from now on. I informed about the number I got a call from to a real policeman I know.
