Covid, crisis and frauds: How oxygen scammers are duping desperate patients

There have been a number of people in and around Delhi who have been duped by the "Covid SOS Scammers" targeting thousands of people who are using social media posts to seek help in these desperate times. Here's a story of a few of them.

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Covid, crisis and frauds: How oxygen scammers are duping desperate patients
There have been numerous complaints about Covid patients duped by the "Covid SOS Scammers" (Reuters photo for representation)

Mayank Jain, a Gurugram-based IT professional had been searching for oxygen cylinders for his Covid-19 positive friend who has been admitted to a local hospital. Mayank Jain has been working from his hometown Jaipur in Rajasthan since the onset of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

In order to find leads on oxygen resources for his friend, he joined a WhatsApp group where his friends had been sharing leads to help him in this crisis.

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He had received a quote of Rs 27,500 for a 50 kg cylinder from one of the oxygen suppliers. He had received his contact details on the WhatsApp group. Mayank Jain contacted the supplier who refused to entertain his request if he wasn't paid in advance.

"I told him that I would pay the cash on delivery because I sensed a possible fraud," Mayank Jain told India Today TV.

However, on Friday, things changed when he was told that his friend's Oxygen Saturation (SpO2) had dropped down to 80, and the temporary oxygen arranged by the local hospital was about to finish. He had no other option but to take the risk. He made an advanced payment of Rs 5,000 and requested the suppliers to process his order.

Mayank Jain was told that due to high demand [for the oxygen cylinders], he must pay at least half the price in advance, in order to initiate the order.

"Then I transferred another 9,000 rupees to the account provided by them and asked them to send the cylinder right away," he said. The vendor then asked Mayank Jain to send details of the patient such as his name, address, Aadhaar details, attendant's contact and his Aadhaar details, which were immediately provided by him.

A few minutes later, Mayank was informed by the vendor that they had only one cylinder left and, to get it for his friend, he must make the full payment. Sensing an imminent fraud, Mayank disconnected the call but relented later.

Also Read | No consignment of 3,000 oxygen concentrators lying with Customs, clarifies Centre

"I sensed the risk but transferred the rest of the amount (Rs 13,500) thinking that my friend might have a shot at receiving the help and pleaded with them to not compromise my friend's life for money and they asked me to trust them," he explained.

After some time, when he enquired to check the status of the oxygen cylinder delivery, Mayank was told to pay an additional Rs 15,000. Sure that it was a scam, Mayank asked them to refund the money immediately, but all his attempts went in vain. He contacted the Delhi Police cyber helpline number but later had to register a complaint with the Rajasthan Police due to jurisdiction issues.

Identity Theft and More

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Mayank Jain is one of the many victims who have recently been duped by the "Covid SOS Scammers" targeting thousands of people who are using social media posts to seek help in these desperate times.

Shikha Tikoo, who runs volunteer programs and has been volunteering to help Covid-hit families with verified resources aggregated from online platforms, has a more bizarre story to tell.

Shikha recently connected a 58-year-old Covid patient in Delhi to a vendor touted as a verified oxygen supplier in a Twitter post. In this case, however, the supplier, to establish its credentials, showed the family of the patient his identity cards, PAN card as well as Aadhaar card of the company's purported chairman.

The chairman's name provided by the company representative was available on Google search and matched with the picture on the ID cards.

Also Read | Ministries fumble as questions raised on fate of oxygen, foreign aid rushed to Covid-hit India

"I called this number because it was tagged as a verified lead, he gave me a rate which I thought was very genuine, Rs 6500 for 55L, and he said he could have it delivered to the patient," Tikoo told India Today TV.

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Tikoo connected the patient's family in Delhi to this lead. The family then made an advance payment of Rs 3,500. Later, when the family was asked to pay an additional Rs 6,000 for kits and delivery, Tikoo sensed a problem and asked the representatives of the company for an immediate refund.

As soon as she did, her number was disconnected and later blocked. The patient's family did not get a refund or the oxygen cylinder.

The person seen in the ID cards was identified as the Vice Chairman of one Sardar Bhagat Singh College of Technology and Management (SBSCTM) in Lucknow, whose real name was Pankaj Singh Bhadauria.

India Today TV reached out to SBSCTM but Pankaj Singh Bhadauria was not available for comment. His associate who answered the call, however, confirmed that Bhadauria was aware of the misuse of his identity but did not provide any further details about any legal actions from his end.

When persuaded further to issue a statement, the associate said, "He is capable enough, has good relations everywhere including the media and he doesn't need to explain anything to anybody".

Fake ID provided to Covid patient's family

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Another Delhi resident, Kirti Sharma, also came in contact with the same network for oxygen cylinders for a Covid patient in the national capital. But Sharma saw red flags in their pricing and blocked the fraud attempt.

"I instructed the patient's attendant not to pay anything in advance. I have seen too many stories in the last few days [about online frauds in the name of supplying oxygen or medicines]," she told India Today TV. Kirti Sharma also informed other volunteers about this scam network.

Also Read | Covaxin effective against Brazilian, British and Indian variants of coronavirus, studies show

Fake Doctors Society

India Today TV also came across a network of suspicious profiles pretending to be doctors and posting purported "verified" leads on the anti-viral drug remdesivir. Some of these "sock puppet accounts" on Twitter are being called out by other users who found the information fake.

These accounts, apparently representing doctors, have been created very recently and have zero to no followers.

Newly created network of sock puppet accounts claiming to offer remdesivir

Hands of Law Tied by Jurisdictions

Despite the fact that such fraudulent transactions are done via traceable online payment methods such as UPI and bank account transfers, these gangs continue to operate with impunity due to complex jurisdiction issues.

In the case of Mayank Jain, the location of the victim was Jaipur, while he was duped by the fake oxygen suppliers in NCR. Jain tried to register a complaint with the Delhi Police cyber cell first, but he was told by the police to get it registered with either Gurugram or Rajasthan Police.

He was later informed by the Rajasthan Police officials that the numbers possibly belonged to Jharkhand, which makes things even more complicated in terms of jurisdiction.

Some of the victims India Today TV spoke with said the phone operator's tunes on the network sounded like Bengali.

In many cases, victim families are often so consumed with the medical requirements associated with the treatment of a Covid patient that despite being conned, they do not have the bandwidth to register an official complaint with the police.

Some of them, however, return to social media to tell their stories. Delhi Police Special Commissioner Dr Muktesh Chander on Monday said that the police had "caught a number of persons duping the public on the pretext of supplying oxygen cylinders, concentrators, remdesivir & other lifesaving medicine or equipment."

He further asked people not to send advance money to anyone without checking their credentials and buying from reliable sources only.

Delhi Police have also issued a Covid-19 helpline number -- 23469900 -- to report about malpractice such as overcharging by ambulances, fake Covid-19 medicines, black marketing and hoarding of medicines, oxygen cylinders/concentrators, etc.