Search This Blog

Powered by Blogger.

Blog Archive

Labels

Showing posts with label Narcotics. Show all posts

Hackers are Targeting Indians Via Novel Courier Scam

 

This year, a fresh scam is on the rise in India's metropolises, scamming people of their hard-earned money. 

Fraudsters posing as police officers or NCRB agents contact people in this new method, known as courier scam, accusing them of engaging in illegal activities involving sending and receiving parcels carrying drugs or other illegal substances.

The scammers then convince the victims that they will be contacted by police, and the entire money extortion racket begins to settle the false complaint against the victims.

The courier scam is primarily targeting people aged 35 to 50, and hundreds of cases have been reported to police this year. 

Modus operandi 

Courier scammers pose as customs officials and call their victims. They mention a parcel booked in their name and claim that it contained narcotic drugs or other banned substances. 

They would then pose as a police officer and speak with them about potential arrest. The victim, who is already terrified, tries to settle the false case by offering money to prevent arrest, which is then transferred to the scammers.

During calls, scammers use psychological tactics to distress victims and collect personal identification and bank details. They ask the victim to provide their Aadhaar number and other identification details, in addition to the bank information, in order to steal money from them.

In other cases, it starts with a missed call. When the person returns the call, they are transferred to an automated voice message informing them that they have reached a courier company's helpline, such as Fedex or Blue Dart. 

The other person on the phone then pretends to be a Mumbai police officer, claiming illegal drugs had been discovered in a parcel delivered to their address. The scammer then blackmails the victim into paying. 

A Bengaluru resident was recently duped out of Rs 1.52 crore after falling victim to the courier scam. On November 10, Debashish Das, 66, received a phone call from a man claiming to be a FedEx employee named Kartikeya. 

Das was then told by the employee that a case had been filed in Mumbai in relation to him after it was discovered that a courier sent to Taiwan under his name had six credit cards, an expired passport, and even 950g of MDMA drugs.

Das was instructed to make a Skype call to the Mumbai cybercrime police station in Andheri. The scammers were able to transfer all of the victim's funds, including his fixed deposits, totaling Rs 1.52 crore to their account after posing as police officers and informing him that bank accounts in his name had been linked to illegal activities. 

Prevention tips

  • Not providing an OTP, Aadhaar number, bank account information, or any other sensitive data. 
  • Be wary of unknown callers and those posing as bank, police, or other officials.
  • Never return calls from unknown or suspicious numbers. 
  • Before providing any information, double-check or verify the caller through official sources.
  • Avoid clicking on any suspicious links sent via text or WhatsApp.

Lone cyber police station in Bengaluru gets overburdened

The delay in setting up new police stations to handle cyber crime has overburdened the lone station in Bengaluru. Eight new police stations for cyber crime, economic offences and narcotics (CEN stations) were announced in December 2018 to handle the growing number of cyber crime cases in Bengaluru. One station was to be set up in each of the eight law-and-order divisions. Even six months after the announcement, the proposal is yet to be implemented.

The existing station, often crowded, has received over 4,700 complaints so far this year. It got 5,036 cases in the whole of 2018.

More cyber crime cases are registered in Bengaluru than in other Indian cities. And yet, some other cities have multiple dedicated stations. For instance, there are three cyber crime stations in Hyderabad.

Policemen say the sheer number of cases hampers investigations. In fact, the station has filed just one charge sheet until now this year against 52 in 2018 and 229 in 2017. A chargesheet is the end of the investigation process from the police side and paves the way for the case to be heard in court. Until now, there has been only one conviction for a cyber crime — in October 2018 after a case was investigated by the CID.

The existing station has a large number of visitors on most days. A policeman said, “Most of our time is spent in handling incoming cases, leaving us with hardly any time to investigate them.” Another official said though about 20 additional Central and Reserve (CAR) personnel have been deployed at the station, more stations are a must for faster resolution of cases.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Girish S said setting up of more stations will help the complainants as they will then have to travel only shorter distances to file complaints. Asked if the volume of cases was affecting investigations, Girish said, “I can’t say it’s affecting investigations, but what is happening is we are focusing on the more pressing, immediate cases, due to which the resolution time for other cases gets prolonged.” Cases of a very serious nature are taken up by the CID wing.