‘Beware of scamsters posing as Covid lab personnel’

Vighnesh Sudhir Worlikar, 27, a resident of Roadpali in Navi Mumbai escaped becoming the victim of fraud by sheer due diligence. Worlikar, an engineer with a shipping company, was made to take a mandatory Covid-19 test before resuming work but was later contacted by a fraud posing as a lab personnel, who claimed he had tested positive for the virus and would need to allow access to his home for disinfection.

“I had to join my shipping company from Monday and before joining the office, a mandatory Covid test was to be done through a lab in Andheri. I got my test done on Friday and was waiting for the reports which were expected to be released on Saturday,” said Worlikar.

On Saturday, he received a call from an unknown caller who claimed he worked with the testing lab. The person asked for Worlikar’s entire travel history of the past few months and then told him that according to test reports, he had Covid-19.

The caller claimed that since the 27-year-old did not reflect any symptoms and was asymptomatic, he would only require an injection and for his entire house to be disinfected.

“Unknowingly, I shared my address, details of whom I was staying with, etc. I told the caller that before they come to my house I need to inform the office that I will not be able to join as I had tested positive. I immediately called my boss who laughed at what I said and told me that he had copies of the reports and that I had tested negative,” said Worlikar.

He then called the person posing as a lab employee to inform him that his reports were negative and question why he had claimed that they were positive. The unknown caller later switched off his phone for the rest of the day.

Though Worlikar did not file any complaint with the police, he did inform them of the incident. Police officers are now appealing to people to be aware and not fall into such traps.

Satish Gaikwad, senior inspector, Kalamboli police station, said, “Though there has been no formal complaint, there has been a discussion about the same. The antisocial elements are making this pandemic an opportunity to try and cheat people. The only valid agency to make a call in such cases is the civic body or police. People should ensure that they cross-verify such callers and inform about such calls to the nearest police station immediately,” said Gaikwad.

The officer went on to explain more preventive steps that can be taken in such instances. “Don’t let unknown people enter your home or society. Till now, there has been no injection for treating Covid infection. To get authentic information about the Covid infection, line of treatment and hospitals, call the helpline numbers given by the civic body and police,” he said.

People have been advised to ask for a valid identity card if somebody walks in for disinfecting the society or home. Society committee members should always be kept in the loop and call the police immediately if they suspect fraud.