KOCHI: Despite efforts by the Cyber Police to sensitise people, fraudsters have been increasingly swindling money offering jobs and services online. In a recent incident, Murali Krishnan, a temple priest at Parappukkara in Thrissur district, was cheated of Rs 47,000 by cyber fraudsters who offered him the job of a forest guard.
The 42-year-old quit his job as a priest at Parakovil after receiving “an appointment order from the ministry of environment and forests” directing him to join training at the forest conservator’s office in Thrissur.
“I borrowed Rs 47,000 to pay the training fee as instructed by the person who contacted me. When I contacted the conservator’s office, the authorities said the appointment order was fake. Later, I approached District Collector Krishna Teja, who referred my complaint to the Chalakudy DySP,” Murali told TNIE.
He had stumbled on a Facebook page offering government jobs, which said there were many vacancies like instructor, range officer and guard in the forest department.
“After I entered my details on the page, a person contacted me over WhatsApp. As directed by him, I submitted an application and paid Rs 47,000 as training fee. A week later, I received the letter appointing me as a forest guard. I was directed to report at the forest conservator’s office at Chembukavu. They also sent me the location of the office,” he said.
He said the Cyber Police is yet to take any action though he had, as directed by the district collector, shared the GPay number to which he paid the money.
After Murali informed the digital agency the forest department refused to appoint him, he was issued a fresh appointment order, this time in the name of the Kerala forest department, directing him to join training at the Kuttanellur forest flying squad office.
He said the appointment letter was issued by the website www.indmoef.in, which he felt was genuine. The website of the ministry of environment and forest is www.moef.gov.in.
Cyber law expert and founder of Cyber Suraksha Foundation, Jiyas Jamal said cyber fraudsters have been using fake government websites to swindle money from people in recent months. In most cases, the fraudsters clone state government websites for their nefarious activities, he said.
“There have been many incidents of job aspirants losing money after applying through fake websites. Often, these websites look similar to the original and victims fail to recognise them. Fraudsters have created fake service websites for Parivahan and the Beverages Corporation,” Jiyas said.
He said people should cross-check the authenticity of websites to avoid falling into the traps set by fraudsters.
“People should check whether any similar websites exist before applying for jobs and other services. The HTML of the website should be checked to know whether it is secure or not. But cyber fraudsters have upped their game so that even secure websites suggested in HTML turn out to be fake. Cross-checking is the best method available,” he said.