KOCHI: As if countering rivals in the Karnataka assembly election — which Congress later won — was not challenging enough, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal also became a target of cyber fraudsters.
The Rajya Sabha MP fell victim to phone number spoofing, wherein unidentified fraudsters used his mobile number to contact people and offered Karnataka assembly seats for money.
Venugopal’s secretary Sharath Chandran K, who lives in Kakkanad, approached the state police chief with a complaint, who forwarded it to the Kochi city police. A case was registered at the Kochi cyber police station on May 14.
“Investigation is progressing swiftly. Attempts are being made to identify the persons responsible,” said a police official. Sharath said it was on April 4 that four people received calls from the MP’s number.
“At the time, the Congress was finalising its candidates for constituencies in Karnataka.
Some cyber fraudsters spoofed the Congress leader’s number and contacted four people seeking money in exchange for party tickets. We do not know whether anyone lost money. When we came to know about the impersonation bid, we took preventive measures,” Sharath said.
“What we have come to know from the police is that the spoofing was done using a mobile app. Police suspect the involvement of a Rajasthan-based gang. They are close to tracing those behind the fraud,” he said. Police officials said two persons, Yogesh Babu and Manmohan, received calls from the MP’s number.
This is the first time in Kerala that a person of Venugopal’s stature became the target of phone spoofing.
“We have registered cases for cheating, fraudulently making use of the unique identification feature of a person and impersonation using computer devices. We suspect it to be an act of an organised cyber fraud group which makes use of major events like elections to swindle money from the public,” said a police official.
Expert take
Nandakishore Harikumar, founder and CEO of cyber security startup Technisanct, said spoofing apps are available or developed for such fraudulent activities. “Spoofing is done via internet calls which look like normal calls. There are techniques to mask the number even from caller IDs. A few years ago, a similar scam had taken place where people received calls from a government office offering to settle their cases for money. Usually, such apps are removed from the app stores,” Nandakishore said.
What is spoofing?
Phone number spoofing is the use of fake caller ID information to mask the true source of an incoming call. Scammers typically spoof phone numbers to appear to be from a particular location or organisation, increasing the chances of people picking up and falling for their cons. By masquerading behind a spoofed number, the caller attempts to impersonate a trusted contact or authority.