Cyber Police Kashmir recovers Rs 13 lakh from online fraudsters

Cyber Police Kashmir on Tuesday claimed to have returned Rs 13 lakh to people defrauded by online fraudsters.

A handout by Cyber Police Kashmir Zone in Srinagar said multiple victims had been duped by the fraudsters in OTP and UPI frauds after which they had lodged complaints with the police. 

   

In the UPI fraud, the victim was duped of Rs 2 lakh when he dialed a fake Air Asia Airlines Call Centre number that he found on Google search to seek refund for the cancellation of his ticket, the police statement said.

It said the victim immediately received a call and was told that the refund amount could be transferred immediately via Google Pay and he would have to download a mobile application ‘Team Viewer Quick Support’ on his cell phone, which he obliged. 

The fraudster also directed him to open his banking app and taking control of his cell phone through Team Viewer Quick Support app, withdrew an amount of Rs 2 lakh from his bank account. 

The victim after realizing that he has been trapped in a cyber fraud immediately contacted Cyber Police Station, Kashmir Zone, Srinagar which acted swiftly and recovered the money.

As per Cyber Police, such frauds take place when the victim opens online banking app or UPI app on his phone to do a transaction without knowing that the fraudsters are virtually stalking them through the Team Viewer Quick Support. 

A legitimate app, Team Viewer Quick Support, police said, is a remote desktop software tool, which provides a third party a complete hold of the user’s cell phone. 

As for the OTP frauds, Cyber Police Srinagar said that multiple complaints were received wherein the complainants received fraud phone calls from fraudsters claiming to be officers from bank. 

These fraudsters convinced the complainants and informed them that their debit cards (ATM card) have been blocked and are due for renewal. 

In order to renew the ATM cards the complainants were asked to share the card details along with the six-digit OTP received on their cell phones, Cyber Police said. 

The victims having no knowledge about these scams shared their card details along with OTP due to which an amount of Rs 11 lakhs were deducted from their bank accounts, it added.

Later, Cyber Police Kashmir was able to return the money into the victims’ accounts. 

The Cyber Police statement said that amid the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic when the public is dependent on cyber platforms, the vulnerability of getting trapped into cyber scams/frauds has increased. 

It asked people to refrain from downloading any apps like Team Viewer Quick Support, Anydesk App etc or dialing fake helpline or customer care numbers found on Google search engine.

If further warmed that families of COVID-19 patients may receive fraudulent calls regarding medical assistance including oxygen cylinders and ask for an advance payment. 

The Cyber Police urged people not to fall prey to such fraudsters.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

four × five =