Fraudsters adopt new method to cheat people online
Cyber fraudsters have now devised a new modus operandi to cheat unsuspecting people: making phone calls in the guise of police officers and claiming that a relative has been arrested in a narcotics case and that the charges would be dropped if a bribe is paid.
Many have fallen prey to this tactic, despite it being only a slight modification of the now infamous courier scam, where they call and claim that a courier with narcotics in the person’s name was intercepted by Customs officials at an airport and then demand money to drop the charges.
The North Division Cybercrime Police on Wednesday registered a case against an unidentified person who, posing as a police officer from Delhi, extorted ₹7,000 from a private firm employee after promising to drop drug case charges against his daughter.
Based on Srinivas Nageshwara Rao’s complaint, the police charged the accused under Section 66C (identity theft) of the IT Act, 2000, for further investigation.
Mr. Rao said the accused called him on his mobile phone on Tuesday and introduced himself as a police officer from Delhi. He further said the police have arrested Rao’s daughter for consuming drugs and are taking her to Delhi. He also offered to help him and drop the charges if he paid ₹15,000. Trusting him, Mr. Rao transferred ₹7,000 online, but later, he grew suspicious and called his daughter and found that she was in the college safe.
He is not alone. There have been multiple cases registered with the city police by victims who have been cheated. An 18-year-old student was robbed by a fraudster posing as a policeman who extorted ₹65,000 from her on Tuesday.
The accused called the girl, informing her that her father has been arrested in a drug peddling case and will be taken to Delhi for further investigation. The accused demanded money to release her father and drop all charges. The victim arranged the money and transferred it online, only later realised that she had been cheated.
On Wednesday, a software engineer from Kasavanahalli was cheated by a conman using a similar modus operandi. Based on Utkarsh Srivatsastav’s complaint, the Bellandur police have taken up a case against an unknown person, charging him with impersonation and cheating. Mr. Srivastav, in his complaint, said that the caller, claiming to be a police officer, informed him that his son was involved in illegal activities and would be arrested. He demanded ₹40,000 to drop charges, following which the money was transferred online.
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