CBI warns on rising cyber crimes using fake officer identities, Hyderabad residents lose lakhs
Hyderabad: With the menace of surge in cyber crimes in which the names and designations of senior Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) Officers being misused, the premier central agency issued an alert regarding the same. The agency cautioned that Any such attempt should be immediately reported to the local Police.
In two recent Cyber cases, involving fake CBI officers, registered by Hyderabad police, A 79-year-old man, Hanumanth Rao, was duped out of Rs 47 lakhs after being lured by a fake KBC lottery win. Another victim, Mohammed Azmath, lost Rs 11 lakhs to fraudsters in the TARAI scam.
Case 1
A senior citizen was approached by a Fake CBI officer who tricked him to pay 47 lakhs by ell his assets and mutual funds under the pretext of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) lottery scam.
The elaborate scheme began when Hanumanth Rao, a 79-year-old resident of New Nallakunta, Hyderabad, received a message from an unknown number claiming that he had won Rs. 25 lakhs as a part of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) lottery.
In the next step a fraudster, impersonating as a CBI officer named Mohitha Sharma (IPS), called Rao. She convinced him to deposit Rs. 3 lakhs as an initial processing fee. And to gain the trust of her potential victim she even showed him a fake RBI receipt for the promised Rs. 25 lakhs deposited in his bank account.
Subsequently Sharma demanded further payments and tracked him to pay 47 lakhs in various transactions. Realizing he had been conned, he approached the Hyderabad cyber crime police. The police booked a case and started an investigation.
Case 2
In another case a Fake CBI officer siphoned over 11 lakhs under the pretext of a fake case being registered against the victim.
Going further into details, Mohammed Azmath,a resident of Sanath Nagar fell victim to a TRAI scam. The ordeal began when he received a call from an unknown number claiming to be from TRAI, warning him of a fraudulent harassment case registered against that number by Mumbai police.
When the complaint informed that he doesn’t have any other number and he lives in Hyderabad. Subsequently the fraudsters connected the call to a fake Mumbai police officer via Skype.The impersonator further fabricated a connection to a case involving Naresh Goyal and introduced a fake CBI officer named Navjot Simi. Further Fake CBI officer informed the complaint that arrest and freezing warrants were issued against him and pending. Fake CBI officer informed that “For clarification he had to submit funds to the Supreme Court for inspection and told not to tell anyone, even his family members otherwise he will be arrested under national secret law act”.
Subsequently the complaint transferred over 11 lakhs to the fraudsters, when the fake officer demanded another 2 lakhs the complaint realized he got cheated and approached the Hyderabad cyber crime police. The police booked a case and started investigation.
Beware of fake CBI calls: police issue alert
Following the rise in these kinds of Cyber crime cases and others, CBI issued an alert about scams misusing the names and designations of senior CBI Officers. “Fake documents carrying signatures of CBI Officers, including Director, CBI coupled with fake warrants/summons are circulated to commit frauds, especially on the Internet/emails/WhatsApp and other,” said CBI in a statement .
Further the statement added that the publicly available CBI logo is misused by some criminals as their display picture to make calls, mainly through WhatsApp, to extort money. Public is advised to be cautious and not fall prey to such scams. Any such attempt should be immediately reported to the local Police, said CBI.
