Cyber scam is not a new concept anymore in this digital era. In Fact according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) of India, there were a total of 210,826 cyber crime cases registered in India in 2022 alone.
A cyber scam is a type of fraud or deceptive practice that is carried out over the internet. Cyber scammers use a variety of methods to trick their victims into giving up their sensitive personal information, hard earned money, or other valuables.
Table of Contents
Gurgaon Cyber Scam :
Smritija Chatterjee, resident of Gurgaon was blackmailed in a call asking her to click on a link sent to her phone or risk being hacked in the month of October. The link was sent through WhatsApp and once she clicked on it , her phone immediately froze, she got an SMS telling her that her account had been debited for Rs 80,000.
Image source : freepik
Chatterjee is not the first of their victims. There are many other unsuspecting victims of cyber attack, who got cheated and made to lose their money they earned through blood and sweat. These scamsters trick people by phone hacking, fake part-time jobs, YouTube likes, and other means few – to execute their plans.
Mohammad Danish and Mohammad Majid are among the seven arrested men in a recent investigation carried out by Gurgaon Police . The police learned that around Rs 22 crore was amassed by them from cheating people like Chatterjee. The duo was also allegedly behind the scam call made to Chatterjee.
Police traced Rs 22 crore
Danish and Majid were connected to fraud worth Rs 18 crore, according to Siddhant Jain, Deputy Police Commissioner (South), who made this revelation after carefully reviewing data from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) for the accused’s confiscated SIM cards and cell phones. Eight FIRs are unique to Haryana, out of the 1,75 FIRs that are registered nationwide. There are 39 FIRs filed, three of which are specific to Haryana, and other accused, including Navdeep Kumawat, Krishna Gopal, Mahendra Kumar Sen, and Sachin Nama, are connected to Rs 2.5 crore. The accused Suraj Rana is connected to Rs 1.68 crore and is the subject of 28 FIRs nationwide, including two in Haryana, he stated.
Image source : freepik
The investigation shed light on the gang’s MO. Where Danish and Majid impersonated as bank officers to contact their targets under the guise of updating the bank accounts and resolving other issues by sending links through WhatsApp. On the other hand , Kumawat, Gopal, Sen, and Nama committed fraud by asking people to like YouTube videos or by offering part-time jobs through Telegram. Rana was involved in making fake social media accounts , cops stated.
Scams committed by the accused :
A member of the team that made the arrests, Sub Inspector Sachin Kumar, stated that a variety of cybercrime techniques have been used, and that these techniques are becoming more complex every day. Some people pretend to be customer service representatives in order to deceive and win over callers. These days, a lot of crimes take place on WhatsApp. Initially, the accused gain access to people’s data, break into their applications, and text the victim’s friends and family, requesting money. Sextortion calls are occasionally placed via WhatsApp, he claimed.
It has been discovered that numerous defendants con people by pretending to be from LIC or banks. We have received reports of victims being called by individuals posing as bank employees, requesting an increase in their credit card limit. Those who fall for these schemes end up disclosing the OTP. Additionally, the accused call individuals posing as employees of the electricity department and ask gullible users to click on links because if they don’t, their electricity supply will be affected. Screen-sharing apps like AnyDesk are downloaded and users’ UPI IDs are exposed when they click on the link, according to Kumar.
