Friday, 12 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The cyber police station of Special Task Force (STF) issued a cyber advisory on Thursday in view of the recent increase in the complaints of financial cyber fraud in Dehradun. The deputy superintendent of police of cyber cell police station, STF, Ankush Mishra said that they have been receiving complaints pertaining to ‘like videos’ and crypto payments which is a new and growing cyber crime where victims lose money as well as their personal information via phone data which is shared further to lure others.
He said that the only concrete way to stay safe from cybercrimes is to stay cautious and alert considering which STF has issued an advisory which must be followed against cyber crimes. He said that the victim is initially lured in three phases. In the first phase, he/she receives messages via Whatsapp by random numbers or Telegram app where they ask to like certain YouTube videos and claim to pay small amounts like Rs 50 for each like. They ask the interested person to send a screenshot of the like on the video and then ask for UPI payment details and pay them Rs 150 to 200 initially. Now the victim is asked to come over Telegram to meet a ” MANAGER” and lured to make more money by making others join the group like a pyramid model where they are promised to be paid commission for every person joining through them. Mishra said that the fraudsters pay nearly Rs 5,000 to 10,000 to convince the victim and then subsequently convinced to invest lakhs of rupees.
They are later told that they need minimum certain credit points for the withdrawal amount and in greed, the victims end up paying lakhs of money through a fake investment scam. The DSP advised that one should immediately report and block any random number on social media platforms offering any investment plan. People must refrain from sharing screenshots of their transactions or internet activity (like on videos) with anyone. He said that one should be careful with investment scams which are usually titled as “Project Manager”, “Teacher” or “Trainee”. He advised not to invest in any scheme based on internet calls and always physically verify the company rather than trusting screenshots of other investors.
