KOCHI: Online advertisements offering thousands of bucks a day can tempt anyone. However, most of them are fake and promotional stuff and people who go after such easy ways of making money can easily lose their savings, warn officials with the Cyber Cell, Kochi City Police, citing a recent case filed by television actor Beena Antony.
In the case, a web page called Career Journal featured the actor as a housewife from Kochi earning Rs 4.5 lakh per month working from home. The fraudsters changed the actor’s name to Aabha Karpal and the housewife recommends people to purchase a digital profit course to earn about Rs 4.2 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh a month on the web page. People have to pay a high price to purchase the course.
G Poonguzhali, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kochi City, told Express that such web pages are fake and advised people to not fall for such baits.
“Though we cannot reveal the exact number, Kochi City Police are dealing with two to three such cyber crimes every day. Most of the victims complain that their photos were used by some unknown people on social media or by some unknown web pages to promote products. We will not know the people responsible for these web pages, so do not fall prey to them. They will use deceptive tricks and sales tactics to convince people to purchase their recommended programmes,” she said.
The officer said she transferred the case of Beena Antony to the Cyber Cell. “To solve the case, we contacted Facebook authorities and other media web pages to block the web template. The process of removing the fake web template is progressing,” Poonguzhali added.
Beena Antony said it was the first time her photos were used by an online fraudster. “Police should take strict action against such crimes. I have lodged the complaint with the Cyber Cell, Ernakulam, to ensure such cases are never repeated. If they are using my photos to promote their products, they must be using the photos of other women as well,” she said.