Fraudster impersonates senior citizen to steal money in Delhi
NEW DELHI: A new cyber fraud scheme has surfaced that hacks into a senior citizen’s WhatsApp account and then impersonates the same senior citizen to extort money from his contact list. The latest victim of this scam was a senior citizen staying in Gulmohar Park (Journalist Colony), New Delhi, under Hauz Khas Police Station jurisdiction, whose WhatsApp account was hacked around midnight of January 29-30, 2025.
Since the hacking occurred in the early hours of January 30, the fraudster has actively been sending texts to the contact list of the victim asking them for urgent help with money matters. The crime was discovered after several friends rang him at 9:30 AM to question the request. Unfortunately, one of those friends was victimised, and that friend was Captain Anil Kaul, who lives in Sushant Lok, Gurgaon, and had sent Rs 15,000 to a Paytm account into two different bank accounts whose account holders’ names appeared to be Ankit Singh and Putul Devi. Captain Kaul has lodged the complaint himself.
To avoid future financial frauds, the victim immediately alerted the contact through the medium of Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp groups with his wife, Malabika Thakur. A complaint has been made through the National Cyber Crime Portal, and an acknowledgement number has been sent to Cyber Police Station, South. On being contacted by the cybercrime helpline 1930, she has been instructed to report it at Cyber Cell (South).
This scam occurs in a certain pattern whereby a hacker sends a WhatsApp message from a familiar contact’s account, containing a verification code. Another message is then sent shortly afterwards, stating that the code was sent by mistake and asking the recipient to send it back through a text message. Because the message seems to be from a known person, the recipient does not suspect anything amiss and forwards the code. Hackers gain control of WhatsApp accounts by obtaining verification codes, then impersonate victims to defraud contacts. Authorities urge caution, advising against sharing codes.
