Don’t fall for this online scam; fraudsters pose as army officers to swindle money in pretext of renting house

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A businessman who advertised about a flat in Kochi for rent on a real estate website was called by a 'CRPF high-ranking officer' from Rajasthan. He stated that he has been transferred to Kochi and need the flat for rent. He also demanded the details to be sent on WhatsApp. The flat owner, who believed the officer by seeing his profile picture in military uniform, gave the details. The officer also agreed to pay three months advance of Rs 1 lakh. After clicking on the Google Pay link sent by the 'CRPF officer' to transfer the money, the flat owner lost money from his account. The flat owner, who was waiting for Rs 1 lakh in his account, clicked on the link three times as instructed by the 'CRPF officer' and lost Rs 3 lakh from own account.

Online fraud in the name of soldiers is becoming rampant. About 200 complaints are received per month mostly from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kollam and Kozhikode. Scams are done using the rental house ads. After confirming the rent and advance, a Google Payment link will be sent to transfer the money. By clicking on this, the fraudsters will ask the account holder to type the advance amount himself. The amount that is typed will be deducted from own account. This will be repeated a second or third time, giving the false impression that the transaction is not complete. A house owner in Kollam lost three and a half lakhs.

When the cyber police reached Rajasthan to catch the fraudsters, the owners of the SIM card numbers and the account of transaction were poor people who had no phone or bank account. Money will be transferred from these bogus accounts to accounts in Delhi. Police cannot make arrests or take action except by providing information on the National Cybercrime Portal.

Rajasthan gang

• Rural villages in the states of Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana are the hub of fraudsters. The cyber police arrested the fraudsters from Kaman and Mewat in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district.
• Fraud is done by hacking the phone number of common people or using fake accounts in their name. The pictures of army officers are taken from social media and uses as profile pic.

Call 1930

• If you lose money due to online fraud, you can complain on number 1930.
• You can register a complaint on the national portal https://cybercrime.gov.in
• Complaints can also be registered at cyber stations of all 19 police districts
• E-mail of stations at https://keralapolice.gov.in website