Bengaluru Lawyer Falls Victim to Elaborate Scam, Forced to Strip For 'Narcotics Test'

Bengaluru: A lawyer from Bengaluru was ensnared in an elaborate scam, resulting in the loss of over 14 lakh rupees and enduring a horrifying ordeal that culminated in being coerced into stripping for a fabricated "narcotics test."  The 29-year-old woman was subjected to psychological manipulation and coercion by individuals purporting to be from the Mumbai cybercrime team or the CBI.

The ordeal commenced on Wednesday (April 3) when the lawyer received a deceptive call from someone claiming to represent FedEx, alleging that a parcel addressed to her contained contraband items including passports, credit cards, and banned substances. 

Despite denying any involvement with the parcel, she was coerced into contacting the supposed cybercrime team in Mumbai to report the incident, setting off a chain of events that would ultimately lead to her victimization.

"Because there were police and politicians involved in this high-profile case, I was asked to cooperate with them and not talk to anybody. For all of Wednesday I was under surveillance, I was asked to switch on my camera and share my screen so that they could see if I was calling or texting anybody. I was watched the entire day and, even at night, I was asked to keep the camera on and sleep," the FIR stated. 

Under the guise of official investigation, the victim was instructed to download Skype and divulge sensitive personal information, including her financial details. 

Fabricated claims of her involvement in illicit activities compounded her distress, leading her to comply with the demands of the scammers under duress. Throughout the ordeal, she was kept under constant surveillance, her every move monitored via camera and microphone.

The scam escalated when she was coerced into transferring funds from her bank account to a dummy account for purported transaction verification. Despite complying with the demands, the perpetrators continued to manipulate her, ultimately resorting to coercing her into stripping for a fictitious narcotics test, all under threat of arrest and harm to her and her family.

She was told to go to her bank branch, where she transferred the ₹ 10.79 lakh she had in her account to another account of the same bank. All the while, she was asked to remain on the call and share her phone's screen so she could be monitored. 

"After they took all the money, Abhishek Chauhan (“CBI officer” named Abhishek Chauhan) asked me to get ready for narcotics drugs test. I was forced to strip and asked to make lewd videos while the camera was on. They threatened and abused me to continue doing so or they would arrest me and my family in a drugs case and also kill or hurt me and my family," she said in the FIR.

The lawyer said the person then blackmailed her and said he would sell her videos to multiple people and on the dark web if he wasn't given ₹ 10 lakh by 3 pm on the same day. This was when the woman filed the police complaint in Bengaluru.