VIJAYAWADA: Cybercrime police in the city have registered as many as 21 cases this year, where fraudsters posing as army personnel, CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) and police officers swindled people on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and various portals for classifieds.
The victims in these cases lost Rs 50 lakh to the criminals, cybercrime police station inspector P Satyanandam said.
Elaborating on the modus operandi in these cases, officials said the fraudsters would secure identity proofs such as Aadhaar and PAN cards of army personnel and use them to dupe common people on social media platforms and classifieds sites. Often people trust these swindlers as they hold defence service personnel in high regard.
Citing a case that was recently reported, the officials said a resident of Gollapudi had posted an advertisement on MagicBricks, a property listing site, for renting out his house. A man, who identified himself as Shiva Kumar and claimed he was an Indian Army officer, expressed interest in renting the house. He called the owner on November 15 and informed him that he was currently working in Bengaluru and was moving to Vijayawada by the end of the month.
To substantiate his identity, he sent pictures of himself in the uniform as well as his Aadhaar, PAN and employee identity cards. He agreed to pay Rs 25,000 as monthly rent and Rs 50,000 as advance for the house. However, when the complainant asked Kumar to visit the house and pay the advance in cash, the latter refrained and insisted on paying the money online. The complainant grew suspicious and approached the cybercrime police, who confirmed that Kumar’s identity was fake.
Urging the public to exercise caution while dealing with unknown people online, officials pointed out that many people have lost lakhs of rupees to cyber fraudsters who frequently come up with new techniques to swindle people.
In the case of criminals claiming to be army personnel, they often post advertisements about selling furniture at huge discounts under the pretext of being transferred and offer contracts in army canteens.