Three hackers arrested by Cyber Cell. (Express Archives)
JASPREET SINGH, a Uttar Pradesh resident who is working at a private company in Mohali, received a call from an unknown number. The caller told Jaspreet that the bank is going to disconnect his ATM card. The caller asked Jaspreet to share his ATM card number.
“Two days after receiving the call, I got a text message from my bank that I made a transaction of Rs 7000 to buy some clothes online. I was surprised as I did not place any order. I contacted my bank, following which I got my card blocked,” Jaspreet said.
After the incident Jaspreet lodged a complaint with the Punjab Cyber Cell. The cyber cell officials contacted the website from where the shopping was done and informed the website that it was a fraudulent transaction.
Jaspreet was lucky that the website returned his money at the insistence of the cyber cell. But many people are not as lucky as Jaspreet is.
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The state cyber cell is flooded with complaints of bank frauds and against social media which is being used as a tool to defame others by unscrupulous elements.
Of a total of 748 complaints which the state cyber cell has received this year, 248 are related to bank frauds. The officials of the cyber cell said that the callers, mostly of whom are traced to Jharkhand or remote areas in Bihar, make calls and in most of the cases they tell people that their ATM card has been blocked, following which they ask for PIN number of ATM card and withdraw money.
An official who deals with the bank frauds at the state cyber cell told Chandigarh Newsline that the people who make these calls operate in two ways.
“These people find the phone numbers from different e-commerce websites and then make calls to the people. The other method is that these people have good sources in banks to get the phone numbers and then make calls. Senior citizens are usually an easy prey,” the officer added.
Cyber Cell’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Balwinder Singh said that now-a-days bank frauds are very common. He said that they traced some cases but most of the cases remain untraced and people could not get their money back.
“Whenever anyone lodges a complaint about a bank fraud, our main priority is to get his money back. In many cases the fraudsters do shopping through fraudulent transactions. After verifying the complaint, we contact the merchant websites and inform them about the fraudulent transactions. We got the money back but still there is an increase in such crimes,” the DSP added.
Defaming or taking revenge by using social media platforms is another crime which is reported frequently. Out of a total of 748 complaints received by the cyber cell, a maximum of 398 were made about defaming the people on social media.
A Mohali-based woman received a call from her friend that some of her very personal pictures were uploaded on her Facebook account. The woman immediately checked it and found the pictures on her Facebook page. She deleted the pictures.
Then she received a call from an unknown caller who threatened to upload more pictures.
“First I got scared. The caller wanted some favour from me, including some money. I agreed to his demands but then I discussed it with one of my friends. She told me to approach the cyber cell. I did that, and during investigation, it was found that the man who was making calls was none other than my nephew,” the woman added.
“We came across many cases in which people who upload obscene pictures and objectionable stuff are known to the complainants. When we question the accused, they usually confess their crime and the complaints usually forgive them, so we do not register cases,” said an official dealing with the investigation of social media crimes.
The cyber cell registered only one FIR this year. In 2016, a total of 13 FIR were registered while in 2017 the cyber cell registered 15 FIRs. The officials said that since they are receiving complaints regarding the social media platforms and in these cases the complaints and the accused persons used to compromise, so the number of FIRs is low.
When asked about the new trends in the cyber cell, DSP Balwinder Singh said that Bitcoin frauds are also being reported. He added that this year they received three complaints about the frauds but they are yet to register FIRs as they are verifying the complaints.
Replying to a question what are the cyber crimes which are reported frequently, the DSP said that mostly the cases related to social media crimes. He added that the bank frauds are also reported frequently but the worrying fact is about the SIM card swapping.