Staying informed will keep you out of fraudsters’ clutches

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Officials recently said cyber fraudsters posing as Delhi Anti-Terror and Jammu and Kashmir police personnel cheated an elderly woman from Girgaon, South Mumbai, of Rs 22 lakh after accusing her of spying for Pakistan, reported news agency Press Trust of India. This is the first case in the city of a cyber fraud using the false claim of espionage to cheat people, an official said.

The 64-year-old filed a complaint, stating she got calls from unidentified numbers with fraudsters posing as Delhi ATS officers posted at ‘Jammu and Kashmir Border Police Station'. A conman, stating he was an officer, told the woman that a case was registered against her for sharing sensitive information with Pakistan. Threatening her with jail time and a huge fine, the frauds acquired lakhs from her, paid into different accounts.

This shows how conmen use intimidation as a prime tactic in their nefarious designs. Then, they also zero in on topicality. After the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, there have been reports about individuals either arrested or called in for questioning on suspicion of espionage. These reports were among the prominent news on channels and social media.

The conmen may have just found yet another bait to lure people into paying up. If the targets had been following the events, the espionage charge would resonate and make them fearful. The conmen then had already put the noose around the chosen target, and now, it was a question of tightening it.

This shows that one has to be ahead of the game. Anticipate that the cons will use news like wars, espionage, Bollywood scandals and immigrant issues as platforms from which to launch their devious schemes. Understand that ATS or any other arrests simply do not take place in this manner. Stay sceptical, stay informed and stay vigilant.