In a major operation, the cyber crime wing of the Central Crime Branch arrested three fraudsters from Jamtara, Jharkhand, for duping many by claiming to be customer care executives of a mobile service provider.
City Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal said people, without verifying the authenticity, should not respond to any SMS/calls from unknown mobile numbers. The cyber crime wing launched an investigation after a complainant from Kodambakkam lost over ₹13 lakh last September.
The complainant had received a SMS stating that his SIM card verification was pending, and his services would be disconnected within 24 hours. It told him to contact a phone number. The complainant did so, and the person on the other end instructed the victim to remit ₹5 to prevent the deactivation. The complainant downloaded an application called ‘Fast Support’ and made the payment from his account. However, the person said the payment had failed, and asked him to pay from a different mobile phone and bank account.
The victim used his wife’s phone and repeated the process. The fraudster said the payment had failed yet again, and asked the complainant to try later before hanging up. A few minutes later, the victim received three SMSes showing that ₹13.09 lakh had been deducted. After a long search in Kolkata, the police arrested Bishwanath Prasad, 25, of Narayanpur; Bapi Mandal, 31, of Jamtara, Jharkhand; and Ram Prasad, 30, of Kolkata. As many as 20 mobile phones, 160 SIM cards, 19 debit cards, four swiping machines, ₹11.2 lakh, 148 g of gold ornaments and one sedan car were seized.
