KOCHI: Recently, a probe into duping of several persons of their money by creating a fake profile on Facebook took Kerala cyber crime police officers to Malda district in West Bengal. The phone number given by the fraudsters was in the name of a person belonging to a tribal hamlet there.
Interestingly, he had not ever seen a smart phone. During investigation, it was found out that two persons took his photograph and fingerprints in the guise of collecting an application form for providing a loan earlier.
The fraudsters procured a SIM card using his personal details and used this number for cheating people. Realising the innocence of the person, the officers left the place without recording his arrest.
While the instances of creating fake profiles on various social media platforms to cheat people are spiking in the state, tracking the fraudsters down through the bank accounts or phone numbers given by them has proved to be a difficult task for the investigators.
In most of the recent cases, fraudsters were found using bank accounts and phone numbers obtained in the names of poor illiterate villagers in various north Indian states. "It was found that fake profiles created by the fraudsters were operated from Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and other north Indian states. However, only a few persons could be arrested in such incidents," said an officer.
As per the data with the cyber crime police, 3,323 cases have been registered in the state so far since 2016. Of these, only 1,831 cases were solved and only 34 persons awarded punishment. The fraudsters had even created fake profiles of top police officers, political party leaders and other prominent personalities to dupe people.
The latest such FB profile created was that of Kerala Bank chairman and CPM leader Gopi Kottamurikkal. Even after the fake profile was reported to FB, his friends continued to receive requests for money.
Advocate Jiyas Jamal, an expert in cyber security laws and founder of Kochi-based NGO Cyber Suraksha Foundation, said the reporting of fraud and fake IDs on the social media platforms has increased after these platforms introduced the system to detect fraud, impersonation or fake account or pages.
"As per the law, the social media platform should appoint a nodal officer to look into the reporting of fake IDs or fraud. However, they are not taking further steps other than the acknowledgment sent to the users or complainants," said Jamal.
Cyber crime police officers said many of the complainants did not even verify the requests for fund transfers in person. "If the person who gets such a request makes a phone call to the friend mentioned, he/she can easily find out whether it is genuine. The majority of victims in these cases were professionals," said K Baby, SI with Kochi Cyber Crime police station.
Underprivileged villagers exploited
Fraudsters were found using bank accounts and phone numbers obtained in the names of poor illiterate villagers in various north Indian states. As per data with the cyber crime police, 3,323 cases have been registered in the state since 2016