Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Changing their techniques rapidly, cyber conmen are now exploiting the fear about the recent terror incidents to extort large sums of money.
It has come to the fore that conmen impersonating as officials of the ATS, NIA or Delhi Police Special Cell intimidate people by claiming that their mobile number, identification documents or cash transactions are linked to terror attacks.
In a recent case in Dhar district, a youth was kept under ‘digital arrest’ for three hours. The fraudsters told him that his number was involved in the Delhi blast and forced him to stay on video call while demanding personal details.
Following this incident, the Cyber Crime Branch has issued a high-alert advisory.
Scammers typically call victims and say, “Your number has appeared in the Delhi blast or Pahalgam attack case and you are being digitally arrested.” Several such cases have now been registered in the city.
The cyber police warned that fraudsters used the name of a government investigation agency, used forged IDs and forced the victims to stay on video calls. They pressured victims not to talk to anyone else. This method is called digital arrest or digital kidnapping.
Some recent cases
Extortion using ‘Mumbai blast’ claim
A student from MP Nagar was told his Aadhaar card was recovered from a Mumbai blast site. He was held on video call for eight hours and forced to pay Rs 2.30 lakh as ‘verification fees’.
Advocate held for three hours
An advocate from Koh-e-Fiza, Shamsul was digitally arrested after scammers claimed his name was linked to several SIM cards found with terrorists. While the call was ongoing his son alerted the police and the fraudsters disconnected the call.
Woman targeted over fake passport link
A woman from Arera Colony was told her passport was used in a drug racket. The fraudsters demanded Rs 1.85 lakh as a penalty. Suspicious relatives intervened in time and prevented the payment.
