KOCHI: Impersonating top officials has now become a common practice by cyber fraudsters to dupe unsuspecting people. In the latest such incident, an unknown person impersonating Loknath Behera, former state police chief, and MD of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL), sent messages and made calls to KMRL officials seeking money.
The Kochi cyber police have registered a case and launched a probe based on the complaint filed by Behera on December 26. The police are trying to trace the number used by the fraudster to contact the officials.
The case has been registered on charges of cheating by personation, dishonestly making use of the electronic signature, password or any other unique identification and cheating anyone by personating using any communication device or computer resources.
According to the police, the incident took place on December 21 when KMRL finance director and AGM finance received WhatsApp messages seeking money from a number having the MD’s photo as profile picture.
Later, they received phone calls from another number, with a person posing as Behera seeking money. “Suspicious about the phone calls and messages, the officials reported the matter to the KMRL MD on December 23. Later, Behera lodged a complaint with the Kochi city police commissioner, which was forwarded to the Kochi cyber police,” said a police officer said.
It is not the first time that such incidents are coming up before the Kochi cyber police. Earlier, fraudsters created a WhatsApp account of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, using which money was sought from a senior police officer. “Fake WhatsApp accounts of State Police Chief Anil Kant, IPS officer Sanjeeb Patjoshi and Narasimhugari T L Reddy, IAS, were also used for cheating people. People have to be cautious about such crimes,” the officer said.
However, the police are yet to make a headway in these cases. “Such fraud activities are carried out by an organised gang based in North Indian states. They use mobile numbers taken using fake identity cards for creating WhatsApp accounts. The number goes inactive when the police launch a probe. Only a joint effort by multiple state and central agencies can nab such scammers,” the officer added.
PROBE INTO ABUSIVE FB POST
Kochi: The Kochi cyber police have registered a case in connection with an abusive Facebook post against Justice Devan Ramachandran’s order with regard to the appointment of Kerala University vice-chancellor recently. The abusive message was posted from an account in the name of Titto Antoney on December 22. The cyber police noticed the post during a social media patrolling. The matter was brought to the notice of the Kochi deputy police commissioner, who ordered the cyber police to conduct a probe. The police have launched a probe to identify the person involved.