new delhi: At present scenario when everyone is fighting with COVID-19, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the situation to dupe people of their money.
Investigators in Delhi Police claimed that these fraudsters are either hacking social media accounts or creating multiple accounts of a person and then duping money from the known people of that person under the pretext of emergencies.
Recently a woman, who was pursuing a graduation course in Anesthesiology, was cheated of her money. The complainant told police that she was currently staying in a hotel as per quarantine rule after duties and was trying to close her loan amount but did not get any response from the lending company.
She later wrote a complaint on their (company) social media page. In response to this, the company asked her mobile number on their social media page. "She got a call from a person who claimed himself to be a company staff and asked her details and later transferred the money.
The woman later came to know that no such person was employed with the company and she was cheated," an official said, adding that a total of Rs 14 lakh was stolen from her in this manner.
Sources told the Millennium Post that police have also received a complaint from an inspector about cheating during the lockdown.
"Fraudster had created a fake social media account of a policeman's friend and then asked money from him on the pretext of a medical emergency. When the cop enquired about the incident with his friend, he told him that his social media account was hacked," sources said.
Recently, another inspector, through his social media account, has revealed that a fake FB account of his was created. The officer requested people not to accept any friend request from the fake ID and also not to transfer any money.
One of the districts cyber cell has received four to five such complaints in which fake or multiple social media profiles were created by cheaters to dupe people.
"They ask for a small amount of money from other people under the pretext of an emergency so that no one can suspect the fraud. They also send an e-wallet link to their target, asking them to transfer the money in a particular account," an officer said, adding that they suspect the role of cheaters sitting in Northern India.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (CyPAD) Anyesh Roy said: "Be cautious if a Facebook friend sends SOS message and asks for money. This could be a fraud. Cross-check with that friend over phone and email."
He further said: "Fraudsters make a fake profile and send SOS messages to people in friend list asking for money. Keep your Facebook friend list private and change privacy settings to prevent theft of personal information."