KOCHI: The Ernakulam rural police on Thursday helped a 60-year-old person recover Rs 74,498 that he had lost to fraudsters online. The police said the person was told by a fraudster on phone last month that his SIM card KYC had expired and that the service would be terminated if it was not renewed. The caller also provided a mobile number. Later, the fraudsters informed the victim to download an app. Since the app was quite similar to that of BSNL, he did not hesitate to do so, and also paid `10 as requested.
Within hours, the fraudsters siphoned off the entire money in the person’s account, the police said. The victim approached the Ernakulam Rural SP K Karthick, who later constituted a special team of cyber experts to investigate the crime. Surprisingly, the team found that the amount had gone to a virtual gaming app. So the police approached the legal cell of the app and restored the amount to the victim’s bank account.
In another case, the Rural police helped a college student recover `25,000. After seeing an advertisement for the sale of a camera on OLX, the youngster contacted the number given. The person who posted the advertisement informed him that he was an army officer and was working with CIAL.
As requested, the youth also transferred an advance of Rs 25,000 to an account mentioned. But things took a U-turn when the student called the person concerned to collect the camera. His phone was switched off.
Based on the youngster’s complaint, the cyber team intervened quickly and froze the money transfer.
“People should become more vigilant while replying to calls and messages. Apps should be downloaded carefully,” the SP said.