Over the last few months, several government officials and police personnel have fallen prey to cyber crimes with fraudsters impersonating them on different social media platforms. The latest incident of the computer-oriented felony has been reported from Telangana, where a fake Facebook profile was created in the name of Nizamabad district collector C. Narayana Reddy.
According to the local police, those operating the fake Facebook profile tried to trick a number of individuals into sending them money. The fraudsters sent messages to people in Reddy's contact list about a made-up health emergency and requested them to transfer money.
Here's how the fraudsters were busted
When those who were requested to send money asked for details about how the amount will be repaid, they did not receive any response and some of them even got blocked. It was then that they sensed something fishy and contacted the police.
Explaining the modus operandi of the tricksters, the cops revealed that they start by making a list of the government officials who can be targeted, create a fake social media profile in their names and then try to dupe people in their contact lists of huge sums.
"Most of the time, they ask for money citing a health emergency for a family member. They also send the account details. If anybody sends money to these accounts, the sender is duped," an official was quoted as saying.
The police have asked the public to beware of fake accounts on social media and not send money to anyone without verifying his/her identity as the cases of cybercrime are on the rise.
Previously, a similar incident had transpired with Nalgonda district's Superintendent of Police (SP) Ranganath. At least four persons were arrested for creating a fake account in his name and then using it for unlawful activities. The arrests were made from Bharatpur district in Rajasthan.
Furthermore, it has been discovered that more than 350 fake Facebook profiles have been created in the names of police officers of different states, thus far. Out of these, as many as 81 fake profiles were of Telengana officers while others were of cops from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
