An international student has been scammed of $7000 by a fake caller claiming to be from the Indian Embassy by playing upon his already precarious visa situation and leaving him further distraught.
Kulwant Gill (name changed) received a phone call on Monday, December 14 claiming to represent the office of the Indian Embassy, which eventually continued for almost next six hours, playing upon his vulnerabilities and ultimately coaxing him to transfer the hefty amount to an overseas account.
Gill's Monday morning began with an unassuming phone call around 11 am which gained his immediate confidence by revealing confidential details about his application with the Indian High Commission for a Police Clearance Certificate – a necessary document for visa process with Immigration New Zealand.
The scammer immediately gained Gill's trust by revealing his PCC application number with Indian High Commission and warned him about an alleged "police complaint in New Zealand" that would be detrimental on his police clearance report, which would further jeopardise his visa application with Immigration NZ.
Gill quickly sought to verify on the internet about the caller's authenticity by checking the number displaying on his mobile which was the same as mentioned on the Indian embassy’s website.
The caller followed by revealing details about Gill’s first arrival in New Zealand four years ago. Gill arrived in New Zealand in 2016 to pursue his Level 5 & 6 studies in business.
However, what gained his eventual trust in the veracity of the caller was the revelation about the status of his latest student visa extension application with Immigration New Zealand.
"My student visa extension application was declined only a couple of days ago, and I had not shared this information with anyone – even my family overseas and my close friends and flatmates," Gill said.
"When the caller told me about the status of my declined visa application, along with the name of the case-officer, I was left with no other choice than to believe him completely," Gill told the Indian Weekender with tears in eyes.
What followed from there was a display of a savage tactic of coercion, cajoling and manipulation from the caller on the other side who revealed one after another confidential and sensitive information about his immigration status eventually ending into two separate transfers of money to an overseas account.
To make sense of control on Gill's mind absolute, the caller continued to remain on the phone with another hoax that the "this is immigration's live call and could not be disconnected."
Surrendering to the caller's coercion, Gill kept on the phone while going out to fetch money from the bank and transfer overseas to an address in Vietnam for an assurance that it will "fix all the problem related to the police report for visa purpose." Subsequently, he made two separate transfers worth $3775 and $3115.
Gill told the Indian Weekender that he had borrowed this money from his family to pay for the remaining fees of the last leg of education.
The office of the Indian High Commission has issued an advisory on social media warning of spoof calls and scams faking as their duty officers and asking for money over the phone.
"High Commission has been receiving many complaints regarding spoof/fake calls or emails asking to pay/transfer money for any reason to a bank account or through Western Union. In a number of instances, callers have claimed to be on duty officer from the High Commission."
"High Commission of India does not make any such call. Please do not reveal your personal details to such callers and report such incidents to New Zealand Police," the advisory said.
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