The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Sunday asked public to stay alert and discern the modus operandi of fraudsters committing fraud in the name of Indian customs.

In a statement, the CBIC said various incidents have come to light through news portals/social media platforms of fraudulent persons posing as Indian Customs officers cheating the public of their hard-earned money across the country.

These frauds are primarily done using digital means like phone calls or SMS, and are focused on extracting money through the ‘purported’ fear of immediate penal actions.

In order to counter these frauds through public awareness, CBIC is mounting a multi-modal awareness campaign that includes newspaper advertisement, SMS/e-mails to the general public, social media campaign, besides awareness campaigns by CBIC field formations.

The CBIC also advised the public to take measures to safeguard themselves from becoming a victim of such scams by discerning the modus operandi of fraudsters, protecting their information, verifying antecedents of caller and reporting such acts by staying alert.

Some of the common modus operandi used by fraudsters are fake calls/SMS. Fraudsters posing as courier officials/staff target the unaware people via calls, text messages or e-mails claiming that Customs have held a package or parcel and requires payment of Customs duties or taxes before it can be released.

Then these fraudsters impersonate as customs/police/CBI officials demanding payment of customs duty/clearance fees for packages/gifts that purportedly have been received from a foreign country. Targeted individuals are asked to make payments for the release of their goods.