KOCHI: After demanding money impersonating bureaucrats by creating their fake WhatsApp accounts, cyber fraudsters have now targeted the chief minister of Kerala. The Kochi cyber police have registered a case against an unidentified person who created a fake WhatsApp account using the profile picture of CM Pinarayi Vijayan and sent messages to an IPS officer requesting money.
The case was registered on the complaint of J Jayanath, who heads the coastal security department headquartered in Kochi. “The officer said he received a WhatsApp message from 8099506915 having the profile picture of Pinarayi Vijayan on August 3. The person demanded money. We suspect more top police officials received messages from fake WhatsApp accounts,” a source said.
The case was registered under IPC Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 468 (forgery for cheating), and 471 (used forged document or electronic record as genuine), IT Act Sections 66C (dishonestly use an electronic signature, password or unique ID identification features) and 66D (cheating using any communication device or computer resource).
The cyber police last month registered a case regarding a fake WhatsApp account created using the picture of IPS officer Sanjeeb Patjoshi. Last month, Kozhikode district collector Narasimhugari T L Reddy was also targeted by fraudsters who created his fake WhatsApp account. In March, a teacher in Kollam was duped of `14 lakh after she received a message from a fake WhatsApp account of state police chief Anil Kant.
Jiyas Jamal, cyber law expert and founder of NGO Cyber Suraksha Foundation, said his team had alerted Health Minister Veena George whose fake WhatsApp account was created and messages were sent to several people.“In most cases, fraudsters use fake profiles of ministers and bureaucrats. This is happening as their phone numbers are available on the websites of government organisations,” he said.