ED cautions public against impostors contacting to extort money

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday cautioned the public against "impersonation" of its summons or letters by unscrupulous elements to extort money, even as it asked victims to contact the federal probe agency in case of trouble.

In a statement, the agency said such fake communications have been brought to its notice and accordingly, FIRs have been registered.

"The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) shall continue to take impacting action against unscrupulous imposters who attempt to impersonate ED officers and indulge in making fake correspondences with general public with ulterior motive to extract money," the statement read.

The agency said it has come to notice that certain unscrupulous people have been sending fake communications on behalf of ED to private parties in the form of summons or letters with "synonymous or anonymous identity."

"On receipt of complaints of such nature, ED takes swift action by approaching local police authorities and file complaints and FIRs," it said.

"Such FIRs have been made by ED at various police stations across India in recent past," the statement added.

In one such case, the agency said, an accused was arrested for his involvement in sending email from a fake email-ID "synonymous" to an ED officer.

In order to "overcome" such nuisances, the agency has taken appropriate measures and started following certain practices so that these unscrupulous elements are not able to harass private persons, according to the statement.

The agency that enforces the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in the country said victims of such frauds can contact the agency at Chandigarh regional office (0172-2540465), Delhi (011-23210692), Mumbai (022-22614091), Chennai (044-28255051) and Kolkata (033-23378343).

People can also contact the ED head office in Delhi at 011- 24692055 or email at dir-enforcement@nic.in.

"The ED always stands by its five core values of integrity, accountability, commitment, excellence and impartiality. ED seeks close co-operation from all stake holders and appeals them to share such instances immediately with ED without any hesitation," the agency said.