Woman duped of Rs 30 lakh by fraudsters posing as German embassy officials

In April, the complainant received a call from an international number from a woman who identified herself as a buyer from a Germany-based cosmetics company.

The woman gave the complainant the contact number from India which she claimed to be of a company that produced a specific oil required in the cosmetics industry.

She told the complainant that the cosmetic company required five litres of oil.

The complainant called the number provided by the caller and was told that a litre of the oil costs around Rs 1.5 lakh. As asked by the “German buyer” the complainant ordered five litres and paid Rs 7.5 lakh to a bank account.

Soon, the complainant received a container of the oil. Subsequently, she got a call from a man posing as an officer from the German embassy.

The caller told her to order another 15 litres oil so that it will be convenient to send that quantity to Germany.
Believing this to be a legitimate request, the woman ordered 15 liters from the same Indian number and paid Rs 22.5 lakh as asked.

After a while all the numbers she had been in contact with —that of the German buyer, official of the German embassy and the Indian supplier of the oil —went incommunicado. It was at this point that she realised that she had been cheated.

She subsequently approached the police and filed a complaint.