KOCHI: A native of Thrissur handed over her new bank account and documents to her friend for trading after falling for the word that her investment would double in no time. After a few days, she got a visit from the Gujarat police. More than eight crores of rupees were taken and transferred by cyber fraudsters through the bank account in her name! The police who came to arrest her realized the truth and returned after giving her a notice. The woman should follow up on the case which happened without her knowledge.
An investigation conducted by the Cyber Security Foundation in Kochi found that a racket involving Malayalees, who collected and provided bank account information to cyber fraudsters, was operating across the state. If they hand over a bank account and SIM, they will get more than one lakh rupees. Account information is obtained using strategies such as trading, moneychain, and charity. 20,000 to 25,000 rupees will be paid to the poor to use their account details. Fraudsters only use these accounts for a short period. They use the bank accounts of others by paying lakhs so that the investigation does not reach them. The racket was operating for a brief time from a base in Karnataka.
Victims including students
Account details of students have also been used by offering attractive commissions. Most of the scams took place in Kozhikode. The victims realized the trap only when Rajasthan police arrived. The fraud was by making them open an account in a private bank. Transactions from 50 to 80 lakh rupees happened through each account. The students were made to believe that the account was for charity and that they would get a job in Dubai in the future.
Converted to crypto
Cyber fraudsters convert money into cryptocurrency. 1.25 crores of an Ernakulam woman who was a victim of an online lottery scam in Kochi, was converted like this. This is to avoid losing money even if the bank account is frozen.
Do not give your bank account details or SIM to anyone, no matter how much money they are willing to pay. If you do so, you will be accused in cases
- Adv. Jiyas Jamal,
Cyber Security Legal Expert