BENGALURU: The Customs Department of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has issued an advisory cautioning people about fraudsters and criminal elements posing as Customs officers. The department has received three such complaints from individuals, two of whom have lost money recently. Cars, parcels of expensive goods and luxury articles are being used to lure people by criminal elements, cautioned an official release.
Elaborating on the modus operandi, the release said a person got anonymous calls stating that vehicles confiscated by Customs are being auctioned at a very cheap price. A photo of the vehicle was shown to the victim. “The victim was asked to transfer the money to an account in order to purchase the said vehicle,” the release added. Another individual had recently lost `2.5 lakh by transferring it to the account
of a ‘Customs Officer’ for a white coloured Fortuner MUV. When he called up one of his friends who
was employed in the Customs to know the status of the vehicle, he learnt that there was
no such auction going on.
The person was advised to file a complaint with the police.Another method fraudsters employed was to call up people and say that a parcel with expensive goods had arrived and they need to deposit a specific sum for it to be released.Custom duties for imported goods need to be paid only after checking the information on the Customs
website www.cbic.gov.in.