Zerodha's Nithin Kamath Flags ‘New Scam In Name Of FedEx, Blue Dart‘ After Colleague Loses Money

Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath has warned about a new scam using the name of FedEx and Blue Dart. Scammers are posing as CBI and crime branch officials to trick people with fake cases, he said.

Nithin Kamath, co-founder of retail brokerage firm Zerodha, on Friday, warned netizens about a "new scam in the name of FedEx, Blue Dart, and other courier companies." The 43-year-old entrepreneur said scammers were impersonating officials from the CBI and crime branch to deceive individuals with fabricated cases. Nithin Kamath narrated the incident which involved a person claiming to be a FedEx official in a Twitter thread.

“There's a new scam in the name of FedEx, Blue Dart, and other courier companies that you need to be aware of. A colleague got a call from a person claiming to be from FedEx saying that a parcel had been confiscated by the police because drugs were found in it,” Kamath tweeted.

Nithin Kamath revealed that his colleague received an "official" notice from the fraudsters, who went to the extent of making a video call impersonating a police officer. In addition, the scammers provided bank account information to facilitate the transfer of funds for the purported release of the package.

"Since the fake police had his AADHAR number, this made the entire ordeal more convincing. This person panicked & transferred the money immediately. If this can happen to a person working in a company that constantly sensitizes everyone to cyber fraud, it can happen to anyone," Kamath added. 

When faced with such situations, Nithin Kamath advised responding by saying, "I will get my lawyer to speak to you". He emphasised the importance of not panicking and reacting impulsively, as most fraudsters target individuals who respond hastily. Many Twitter users expressed gratitude to Kamath for bringing attention to these scams and shared their own experiences of similar incidents.

"It used to be parcels from Amazon and Flipkart. Looks like no courier companies are spared now. This I believe is in connivance with company employees," one user wrote.

"This type of scam is going on since months. One of my friends got such call around four months ago and the another friend got the same kind of call two months ago. Everyone needs to be very careful because scamsters build up new stories every time," another user wrote.