{"id":3561,"date":"2021-01-29T20:52:47","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T20:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.extravelmoney.com\/blog\/?p=3561"},"modified":"2025-12-07T17:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:50:08","slug":"the-customs-money-transfer-scam-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.extravelmoney.com\/blog\/the-customs-money-transfer-scam-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"The Customs Money Transfer Scam in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.extravelmoney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Untitled-design-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/www.extravelmoney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Untitled-design-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have you ever received an email or phone call from the customs department to make payment to release a parcel sent in your name, which is stuck at the airport?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OR<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A friend whom you got acquainted online is asking you to pay money to customs to release a gift they sent to you from abroad?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Either way, hold on! Do not proceed, as you are about to get scammed!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scammers have been on a roll targeting people via calls, emails pretending as a customs officer, a bank official, a parcel carrier or even as a guy\/girl whom you met on a matrimonial site! Yes, you heard it right!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s take a swim through the murky waters of the customs money transfer scam in India.<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><b>The Scam<\/b><\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>The beginning<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The scam begins when the scammer befriends the victim on social media. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This could be through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Email or even through a matrimonial website! <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their usual targets are young men from semi-urban areas and men above the age of 60. The scammers will pretend to be a young lady (usually from abroad). <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The logic behind targeting this group is that the scammers feel most people in this group are not tech-savvy and thus would not be able to easily find out that they are being scammed. That makes for easy victims.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes, they also create fake profiles on matrimonial websites, as that of a successful guy settled abroad and target women.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Laying the trap<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The next step is that the scammers will usually maintain a high profile image on their social media accounts to impress their prey. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On seeing the profile, the victims will fall into the illusion that scammers are genuine and respond positively which results in establishing a strong trust. The rest of the game is built on the victim\u2019s trust.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once a good rapport has been created between the scammer and the victim, the scam starts to unfold.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sending a \u201cgift\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The scammer would claim to have sent a \u201cgift\u201d to the victim from abroad. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To make the victim believe, the scammer would send photographs of some very expensive and exquisite gifts.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>\u201cGift\u201d stuck at customs <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; In a few days time, the victim will receive a call\/mail or message from someone claiming to be an official from the Customs Department or a courier service guy asking to pay money to release the \u201cgift\u201d parcel which is stuck at the airport. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Usually, the caller will claim that the \u201cgift\u201d parcel contains a large amount of foreign currency which has been confiscated.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Paying money to free the \u201cgift\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; As a penalty, the victim will be asked to pay a percentage of the total foreign currency found in the \u201cgift\u201d. This may be justified as tax for receiving the amount<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The money would be asked to be sent via UPI method through Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe, BHIM or through NEFT NetBanking. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Out of trust and repeated requests from the scammer, the victim would generally do this without being suspicious.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the scammer manages to convince the victim to pay this money for the first time, then, unfortunately, the victim has entered a dangerous loop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scammer would come back again saying the amount already paid is not enough and demand more money.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since by this time the victim is financially and emotionally invested in this lie, they would most likely pay the money again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Only a few people probably start to get suspicious at this point and start looking for answers online.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><b>How To Detect This Scam?<\/b><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scam is quite easy to detect if you know what are the things that are being done incorrectly by the scammer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><b>1. Identifying fake profiles on social media<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a random stranger sends a friend request to you over social media, Check if their profile has <\/span><b>pictures<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the actual person. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A scammer usually will have very fewer pictures of the person they are pretending to be. Most of the pictures will be of random things like cars, houses etc.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do a <\/span><b>reverse image search<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of their profile picture. You\u2019ll get results of various websites where their photo is hosted. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This way you can find out if the person using this photo across different social media platforms is having the same name or not. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may also learn more about this person. That\u2019ll help you evaluate how genuine they are.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is one of the easiest ways to detect a fake profile.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reverse Image Search can be performed via &#8211; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tineye.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tineye.com<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><b>2. Ask for \u201cTracking ID\u201d of the \u201cgift\u201d parcel sent to you<\/b><b><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When someone sends you a parcel\/courier from abroad to India (or even within India), it is usually through a courier or postal service. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In such cases, the service provider will give a <\/span><b>tracking ID<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the sender, which can be used to track its status.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So when someone claims that they\u2019ve sent you a \u201cgift\u201d parcel, ask them to share the tracking ID and the website of the courier service to verify that the parcel is indeed on its way to you. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If they are unable to do this, it\u2019s a pretty telltale sign their \u201cgift\u201d parcel actually does not exist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><b>3. How customs raises an issue with a parcel from abroad<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First and foremost, you will never receive a call or email from the customs department asking you to pay some random amount.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When customs wants to raise an issue with a parcel or package being imported from abroad, <\/span><b>they send an official notification letter via post<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the receiver.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this letter, they\u2019ll be mentioning their concerns and whether any duty\/tax has to be paid to them and if so how this payment needs to be done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Usually the payment is done by directly visiting the concerned airport where the parcel is stuck and paying the due amount to the customs department there. You\u2019ll receive a receipt for this.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So if you get a call from someone claiming to be from customs, ignore it as it is a clear case of fraudulent activity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>4. Can money be transferred in a courier package as a \u201cGift\u201d?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the biggest clues in unravelling this scam is when the scammer claims that they\u2019ve sent money in the \u201cgift\u201d parcel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per law, <\/span><b>it is illegal to send currency notes and coins by mail or courier service<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Courier services such as DTDC, DHL, FedEx etc will check for the presence of money in their packages. If found, they won\u2019t allow it to be shipped and will ask the sender to remove such items.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A person from abroad can legally send money to you in India through online payment services like PayPal or through direct bank transfer. This is done by initiating a \u201cWire Transfer\u201d from their bank account abroad to your bank account in India.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So if a person claims they\u2019ve sent you money in a \u201cgift\u201d parcel, straightaway understands that they are trying to scam you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>5. Is tax applicable on money received from abroad and who collects it?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another important point to consider to identify this scam is when the scammer mentions paying customs duty\/tax on the money they sent in their \u201cgift\u201d parcel for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As mentioned above, money can\u2019t be sent via a \u201cgift\u201d parcel to India.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, it is <\/span><b>not the role of customs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to demand tax on the money being received by you. That is the job of the income tax department and it should be dealt with at the time of filing your IT returns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So their claim of needing to pay customs duty for receiving money from abroad is a big fat lie.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per Indian tax laws, If you are receiving money from a close relative abroad, you need not pay a single rupee tax on that amount. It is treated as a tax-free gift by the Income Tax department.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, if you are receiving money from abroad and the sender is not related to you, then any amount over Rs. 50,000\u00a0 will be liable to be taxed as your income. You\u2019d have to pay income tax on the excess amount.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1><b>Some Common Scam Scenarios To Look Out For;<\/b><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you are suddenly contacted by a stranger via calls, emails or by social media platforms.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you are asked to transfer money unexpectedly to unknown accounts.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you are asked to click on any link in a text message or email to verify your bank account.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basically, any condition\/deal that seems too good to be true could be mostly a fraud.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1><b>What to do if you have been scammed?<\/b><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Immediately register a case of online fraud with your local police station and get the FIR copy.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, you must also quickly inform your bank too about the issue and see if it is possible for them to reverse the money transfer to the scammer.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, you can register a complaint at the <a href=\"https:\/\/cybervolunteer.mha.gov.in\/Default.aspx\">National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, you can take a look at this document from RBI containing contact details of the nodal agencies that can help you to register grievances regarding online fraud;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rbidocs.rbi.org.in\/rdocs\/content\/pdfs\/LNA100112C.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1yIW2inat8jqldJFPnzx5dHVZzPxNtuNacl8vxVCzkochrvD-vV8-aaeI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-lynx-mode=\"hover\" data-lynx-uri=\"https:\/\/l.facebook.com\/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Frbidocs.rbi.org.in%2Frdocs%2Fcontent%2Fpdfs%2FLNA100112C.pdf%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1yIW2inat8jqldJFPnzx5dHVZzPxNtuNacl8vxVCzkochrvD-vV8-aaeI&amp;h=AT0_uxQuIvPibk-OGs43nTMye4Dzma9FMCuYXuLm5fan7LfpKDZqzTluhSb5BKPFZFCeG3VUSgl33-uShkVh2kUuaAbw-ceBIEiNsFo1Uz1tt7QQ4HC4WO-jP70KLLzgw3g\">https:\/\/rbidocs.rbi.org.in\/rdocs\/content\/pdfs\/LNA100112C.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be vigilant and act smart and report any suspicious to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.india.gov.in\/official-website-serious-fraud-investigation-office\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Website of Serious Fraud Investigation Office<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don&#8217;t share your personal and financial details with strangers on social media. Don\u2019t get scammed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><i>Also read: <\/i><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.extravelmoney.com\/blog\/tax-on-sending-money-to-india-from-abroad\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tax Implications On Money Transferred From Abroad To India<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever received an email or phone call from the customs department to make payment to release a parcel sent in your name, which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":3563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,504,502,505,508,506,513,514,162,509,503,507,510,512,14,419,511,146],"class_list":["post-3561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-money-transfer","tag-customs-declaration","tag-customs-department","tag-customs-money-transfer-scam-in-india","tag-customs-scam","tag-fake-profiles","tag-gift-stuck","tag-gift-parcel-tracking-id","tag-money-courier","tag-money-transfer-abroad","tag-money-transfer-from-abroad-to-india","tag-money-transfer-scam","tag-parcel-stuck","tag-receiving-gifts-from-abroad","tag-reverse-image-search","tag-scams","tag-send-money-abroad","tag-tax-on-gifts-received-from-abroad","tag-wire-transfer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Customs Money Transfer Scam in India -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read about this latest money transfer scam in India. 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