Indore: Cyber criminals are targeting the most vulnerable sections of society – the unemployed youth who are desperately looking for jobs and the senior citizens who are not aware how the cyber criminal operate.
An analysis of the 250 odd cases that were registered by the State Cyber Crime cell in Indore this year shows that in around 50 per cent of the cases, the victims are either unemployed youths or senior citizens. During the course of the year the cyber criminals were able to cheat people to the tune of over Rs 2 cr.
Sources said that the cyber criminals do their homework before choosing a target and present their trap in such a way that the vulnerable fall into it.
Recruitment scam: Sources said that the cyber criminals usually steal data from job recruiting sites and from there they get the bio-data and other details of the intended victim. Then they offer a job that more or less fits the profile of the intended victim and once he falls into the trap they take money on one pretext or another – like registration fees, caution money, handling charges etc.
Insurance Policy crime: In this case, the criminals get hold of data of persons who have discontinued their insurance policies, or have taken premature withdrawal of their policies. They usually tell the intended victim that they can revive their insurance policies by paying a certain sum and that this is a one-time scheme being offered by the company and they have to wire the money to a certain bank account. Since the criminals have some details of the insurance policy, the intended victim easily falls into the trap and sends the money.
BIG CASES REPORTED THIS YEAR
Case 1: A 64-year-old woman was cheated of Rs 64 lakhs by a Delhi based gang, whose members were later caught by the Indore Cyber Cell. The accused had got hold of details of an insurance policy that the victim had discontinued years back. They told the victim that her discontinued insurance policy was now worth crores, but to reactivate it she would have to pay. They kept on demanding money for various pretexts and the victim kept on paying till the time she grew suspicious and approached the police.
Case 2: The fraudsters made a website with “.gov” URL which looked like a government site. Then they issued advertisement of a fake job requirement for the Union home ministry in several newspapers. Thousands of youth applied and they were duped in the name of registration and other fees. The gang had managed to collect Rs 17 lakhs from Indore and Rs 1.5 lakhs from Bhopal.
Case 3: Two senior citizens were cheated of Rs 45 lakhs and Rs 24 lakhs in the name of reviving lapsed insurance policies. In both these cases the victims were told that they would have to pay some amount if they wanted to revive their policies. The fraudsters took the money in stages for one reason or another, and the victims kept paying as they were conned into trusting the scamsters.
Cyber officials’ suggestions
Many senior citizens have lost lakhs of rupees to scamsters, but they could have saved it had they been more careful, said cyber cell officials. “It is important to understand that once an insurance policy is closed\terminated and money paid, there is no scope of any hidden investment etc remaining. Also in cases of job frauds, the youth should check and recheck the genuineness of the site or advertisement offering the job.
Jitendra Singh, Superintendent of Police (State Cyber Cell Indore) said that apart from solving crimes, the department also keeps on doing programmes in educational institutes and other places to increase awareness about cyber crimes.
