Indore (Madhya Pradesh): If you receive a call from an unknown number on WhatsApp and the caller pretends to be associated with the police department and demands money while giving you information about your child being involved in some crime, then be careful because it is not a policeman but he is a cyber-thug. This is the new way used by criminals to dupe people.
Recently, many people in the city have been receiving such WhatsApp calls in which criminals are scaring people and cheating them of money. In most of the cases, the callers, posing as policemen, demand money from people by claiming that their children are involved in criminal incidents or they are victims of criminal incidents. In a case, the conman demanded Rs 50k from a person to release his son.
According to a crime branch officer, more than two dozen cases in which people received calls from conmen for duping or attempting to dupe them after scaring them that their children were involved in different cases, have been reported this year. Hundreds of people received same calls on their WhatsApp but they did not report the matter to the police as they could not be duped by cyber criminals.
CASE-1
Anil Upadhyay, a working professional from Kanadiya Road, informed Free Press that he had received a call from a person, who posed himself as a police officer and informed that his son was involved in an assault case and was detained by the police. He first scared him by calling the name of the son correctly and later he told him to settle the case by asking for Rs 50k. When Upadhyay talked to his son, he was already at home and realised that the call was not from a policeman but from some conman.
CASE-2
Another call received by Sunil Namdev, a professional photographer and a resident of Tilak Nagar a couple of days back. The caller scared him that his daughter was involved in the crime and she was also detained by the police but Sunil disconnected the call as his daughter was in front of him.
CASE-3
Ajay Yadav, a resident of Palasia area had also received a WhatsApp call from a person, who posed himself as a police officer. The caller asked do you know where your son is? He tried to scare him by saying that a case has been registered against his son but Yadav ignored the call and disconnected the same and he avoided becoming a victim of online fraud incident.
Additional DCP (crime) Rajesh Dandotiya informed Free Press that some incidents of WhatsApp call and WhatsApp video calls have been reported and probe is on to identify the accused.
People receive calls from int’l phone numbers
Most of the conmen made phone calls using ‘international numbers’ to terrify people. Many people may be trapped in the net of conmen seeing such numbers. However, an officer said that cyber criminals can create such numbers using the internet. In all the above cases, people received phone calls from numbers that looked like international ones.
Parents of students living in hostels may be scare of such calls
The parents whose children are staying away from them or in hostels in other cities may be scared of such calls. In such a situation, the parents or the receiver should first verify the information given by the caller or they can report the incident with the police as well. Police said that conmen may have stolen data of students and they have been making phone calls to their parents to extort money from them.
Additional Director General of Police Dr Varun Kapoor |
What cyber expert says
Additional Director General of Police Dr Varun Kapoor, a cyber-expert, said that cyber criminals may do fishing by calls, emails and other ways. In such a situation, people should not receive calls from unidentified numbers or avoid video calls coming from unidentified persons. People may save themselves by being aware of such calls. If anyone becomes the victim of such fraud, he or she should report the matter with the cyber cell or the police immediately. People may also report the incident on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal online.
