New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) Delhi customs officers have asked people to be aware of instances of cheating by unscrupulous elements in the name of customs officers and report any such matter to authorities concerned. It said instances have come to the notice that general public is being cheated by unscrupulous elements, by first becoming friendly through social media i.e., face book/matrimonial sites/messenger or through some other channel and subsequently promising them to send parcels of various articles to India against payment in the name of customs duties. They then impersonate as customs officers by using their names and instruct the consignees (i.e., general public) to deposit money in the bank account created by them for fraudulent purpose to extort money, it said in a public notice. They may also issue fictitious receipts for duty demand purportedly made by customs, the notice said. General public is hereby informed that customs officers never call anyone and ask to pay customs duty to any specific individual"s account or into his account, it said. It is also informed that the customs duty can only be deposited in favour of Commissioner of Customs (government account) ‘A/c head 0037’ customs duties through nominated banks such as Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India etc. for the Commissionerate of Delhi customs, said the notice dated January 20,2022. General public is also informed that whenever any promise of so-called parcel at Delhi airport ostensibly sent by such unscrupulous elements is made, they can perform the due diligence by confirming the veracity of the tracking number of the parcels through the tracking service sites provided by authorised couriers or postal department, it said. Further, the general public is alerted/advised not to pay any amount in the name of customs to any person or to any private account, if anybody demands such payments claiming to be officer of customs on the parcels alleged to be detained by Customs at Delhi airport/import/export shed/Foreign Post Office (FPO), the notice said. For any query or verification, Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Foreign Post Office, phone: 011-23238917, Deputy/ Assistant Commissioner of Customs, NCT, New Delhi, phone: 011- 47019839 /40571151, Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Customs (Admn), phone: 011-25654290 and Superintendent of Customs (Hqr), phone - 011-25655150, can be contacted. PTI AKV RCJ