KOCHI: Befriending an unknown UK national on Instagram turned out to be a costly affair for a Kizhakkambalam native as the youngster lost over Rs 19.15 lakh in a cyber fraud case. Ernakulam cyber police registered a case and launched a probe into the incident.
According to police officials, cyber fraudsters impersonating foreign nationals and syphoning money is becoming a common trick these days. In the case of the Kizhakkambalam youth, it was in February this year he received a friendship request using the fake name of a British woman on Instagram.
“The fake id was named sofiagulanne. The victim started chatting with the fake id holder. Later, they switched to WhatsApp as their friendship developed further. There were also a few voice calls made to the complainant through WhatsApp from the UK mobile number to take him into confidence,” a police officer said. As the chats continued on a regular basis, the victim was informed by the impersonator that she is sending him some costly gifts through air cargo.
“She told the victim that the consignment is sent through Global Express Logistics and also gave the consignment number. A few days later, the victim received a call from an Indian number claiming to be a staff of the dispatch section of Indira Gandhi International Airport Cargo Terminal. He told the youth that a consignment containing a mobile phone, gold, and other costly goods and 50,000 UK pounds has reached the cargo terminal. For releasing the consignment, the victim should pay money as an Anti-Money Laundering Certificate charge and International Currency charge,” the official said.
As the victim trusted the impersonator who was chatting with him, he decided to pay an amount as told by the fake airport dispatch section official. Thus on February 13, the victim made seven bank transactions of Rs 19,15,155 to the accounts given by the fake dispatch section officials. After the payment, there was no response from the imposter or the fake airport official. Realising that he had been duped, he approached the police with a complaint.
“There were a few similar cyber fraud cases reported in various parts of the state. In most of these cases, friendship starts with social media platforms. As we always say, never accept friendship requests from unknown persons. We suggest that friendship requests should be accepted only if you have met the person in real. Also important is to keep social media accounts private and locked so that other persons cannot misuse the content, pictures and videos,” an officer said.