OBSERVER The Daily
Volume 14 | Issue 8
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Fake doc ‘buys’ kidneys online Con man offers huge sums to buy organs but steals money from donors
Shruti Suresh EXCLUSIVE A Bangalore based con man is posing as a doctor online and running a kidneys-for-sale scam. Indian and African con men operating from Bangalore and Chennai are posting adverts offering to buy and sell kidneys using fake names, fake credentials and offering huge sums for the organs. Not only do they pose as nephrologists from reputed hospitals like Manipal, they post ads for selling kidneys, cars and mobiles online on sites such as Quikr and OLX. In reality, all they want is money. A man, who called himself Dave Gray, claimed to be a nephrologist working at Dave Gray Hospital, based in Pune, was approached by our reporter, who told him she wanted to sell a kidney. She was responding to one of many online adverts posted by the group. The hospital and the street in Pune mentioned in the advertisement hosted by him do not exist. Dave Gray, as he called himself, posted comments on many sites offering huge money in return for kidneys. He claimed that the kidneys were for kidney transplant recipients. On his blog, he posted a photo of a hospital entrance which clearly belongs to another bona fide website. In one ad posted on the GBK Charitable Trust website, “Gray” stated: “Do you want to sell your kidney? Are you seeking for an opportunity to sell your kidney for money due to financial break down and you don’t know what to do, then contact us today and we shall offer you good amount for your Kidney. My name is (Dr David Gray) and I am a phrenologist in Manipal hospital. Our hospital is specialized in Kidney Surgery and we also deal with buying and transplantation of kidneys with a living corresponding donor. We are
located in India, if you are interested in selling or buying kidneys please don’t hesitate to contact us.” On being approached by our reporter as an interested kidney donor, he sent a mail furnishing a lot of guidelines which, according to him, were the prerequisites for kidney donation. He said, “You have to make a transfer of Rs. 10,999 which is to register with the National Kidney Foundation as a donor.” The account to which Dave Gray wanted the registration fee transferred was a State Bank of India (SBI) account based in Bangalore -in the name of Avinash Shah. He added, “Avinash Shah, to whom
operated with other con men posing as sellers of electronic devices and cars on websites like Quikr and OLX. When asked for verification, the self-claimed nephrologist shared an identification proof. That proof was found to include a photograph of a Nigerian man, Casmir Ekwuhga, 42, who was arrested last August by City of London Police for human trafficking. Ekwuhga was jailed for four years. According to reports, he was a member of a gang involved in an immigration racket which helped Nigerians enter UK using stolen identities. Amit Sharma, 25, a resident of Delhi, was deceived into spending
The ID card provided by Gray who claimed to be a nephrologist
the account belongs, is our in-charge.” On contacting the actual National Kidney Foundation (NKF), based in the United States, they confirmed that there is no fee for patients, care-givers or family members to join the NKF. Sharai, at the NKF said: “Organ donors are not required to pay anything to become a living donor in the U.S. and compensation is not given to anyone who is donating legally.” The account details given by “Dave Gray” and two more SBI accounts linked to him had earlier been used to deceive people. “Gray”
The advert used by Dave to get donors to sell their kidneys
about Rs 1, 80, 000 last November when he contacted “Gray” - who claimed to be a kidney specialist. Amit said: “I had told him that I was interested in donating my kidneys. He promised me lakhs of money in return for a kidney. Initially, he asked me to pay only the registration fee of Rs 11, 000 but later started asking for more money.” Amit continued: “He introduced himself as Dr. Johnson Francis. I paid the initial amount to an account belonging to Avinash Shah. After I paid the initial fee for registration, he went on to say that I need to pay the remittance fee and non-citizen fee in order to take it further.” “Gray” then stopped contacting Amit and started dodging his calls. Amit said that the con man also had a partner. Amit claimed that he had borrowed a lot of the money that he deposited in these accounts which the “doctor” asked him to. According to him, he was asked to transfer money to at least six different Indian accounts. Amit tried getting in touch with the con men but his calls weren’t received. He filed an FIR with the police in Delhi last month, but it hasn’t helped. Amit said:
“I later found out that a lot of people had been cheated like me.” Operating online, “Gray” and his accomplices con people into believing that they are donating kidneys for hefty prices. Our reporter was told that she would be paid USD 220,000 for a kidney. Through sites such as OLX, they pose as sellers of electronics like camera, phones, TV, etc. Varsani was cheated when he saw an advert for an iPhone 5S being sold on OLX. He was asked to transfer Rs 19, 000 to buy the iPhone, which was never delivered to him. He was asked to deposit Rs. 14,000 in one account and Rs. 5000 to another account, both SBI accounts based in Bangalore. Even now there are adverts for used cars online to trap people who, without verification, are hunting for a web bargain. When the above mentioned advertisement was marked as spam by Varsani, it was taken down from the website. Pratik D’Souza, lead of Customer Services Team of Quikr in Mumbai, said: “Whenever an advertisement is posted, we have our team review it. If it looks like the work of a spammer, the owner of the advertisement is contacted and is asked to produce an authorization certificate which could prove that he is an authorized dealer.” If the owner didn’t furnish the certificate within a certain time period the advert would be taken down. He said: “We have listed on our website that consumers should be careful while doing such transactions. Many people interact with the seller only via call or WhatsApp. We have mentioned in our Listing Policy that buyers shouldn’t do direct money transfers into sellers’ accounts. We aren’t responsible if consumers deal with the sellers without being aware of the guidelines mentioned on our website. I will look into the advertisement you are talking about and it will be taken down if it is conning people.” Upon confronting Dave
Casmir was arrested by the City of London police in 2014 in UK saying that an FIR has been filed against him by a man he cheated, he said: “I don’t know what you are talking about. I have never taken money from anyone.” He then claimed that someone had been using his name to con others. Amit was duped by asking him to transfer money to the same account to which our reporter was asked to transfer money before beginning the kidney transplant process. Dave denied all charges saying that someone is ruining his name by using it to cheat people. Dave’s number is a Bangalore number registered in the name of ‘Amma’. “The money I am asking you is for registering from NKF. It is legitimate. As soon as you make the payment, half of the amount for the kidney would be transferred to you today. If you are not interested in making the payment, let us cancel this whole thing,” he said. We then told him that the photograph in the ID card he sent belonged to an arrested Nigerian in London, but he claimed he simply resembled the arrested man. “He resembles me but I am not a convict. I have been living in India for one year and six months now. If I were an arrested man I won’t be talking to you over phone,” he added. He wasn’t interested in answering any further questions.
Photo shown on his blog to be the entrance to the Dave Gray Hospital, Pune which has been lifted from another website