An 85-year-old man from Hyderabad, who lost ₹2.88 crore due to parcel scams, has been refunded ₹53 lakh after he lodged a complaint on helpline number 1930. Another ₹50 lakh will also be refunded. | Photo credit: Getty Images

More than a month after an 85-year-old man from Habsiguda in Hyderabad was deprived of his savings of over ₹2.88 crore in the infamous parcel scam or ‘FedEx scam’, a total of ₹53 Lakh (23 Oct 2024) by Axis Bank Surat Branch.

Another Rs 50 lakh involved in the scam, which was blocked in fraudulent accounts, will be returned to complainant Davuluri Hanumantha Rao by the State Bank of India Kerela branch.

On the afternoon of September 4, the man received a call from scammers informing him that his Aadhaar card and bank accounts had been used in an alleged scam worth ₹300 crore, of which ₹68 crore was his account. He was asked to transfer all his funds to “RBI accounts” to verify the authenticity of the transactions and was put in touch with a “CBI officer” named Rakesh Shinde, who warned him of possible arrest and jail time in the case. Shortly thereafter, a person named Rajaram was appointed as the prosecutor in the applicant’s case and was assured that the money would be returned once the verification process was completed.

A cybercrime complaint has been filed on helpline 1930.

The complainant started transferring his funds on September 9 and transferred ₹2.58 crore and ₹30 lakh from two different accounts on the same day before his wife became suspicious. The couple lodged a cybercrime complaint on helpline 1930.

During the investigation, police officials issued notices to bank officials and transactions worth over ₹1 crore were suspended in several suspicious accounts. The applicant then filed an application for recovery of the amount held in the fraudulent accounts on the basis of which the orders were issued.