Beware of rental and lottery frauds, Cybercrime police caution people in Visakhapatnam
The Hindu
The city has witnessed over such 40 cases in the recent past, it is learnt
The city is witnessing a spurt in cybercrimes with over 40 complaints registered by victims who were conned by fraudsters on online marketplace platforms.
In most of the cases, the perpetrators committing the crimes are found to be masquerading as armed forces personnel.
Police said that the fraudsters contact people who have put up their properties for sale or rent on websites, and introduce themselves as armed forces personnel who have recently been transferred to Visakhapatnam. They also send fake Aadhaar cards to convince the victims about their identity.
Soon, they start weaving an elaborate ruse, informing the victims of a ‘scheme available only for armed forces personnel’ whereby the landlords would get back twice the amount of money that they deposit into the accounts of the personnel at the time of signing the rental agreement. Initially, the fraudsters would ask for small amounts of money from their victims, which would be promptly doubled and deposited back into the victims’ accounts in order to gain their trust.
Soon, the fraudsters would ask for a large sum of money to be deposited in their accounts. The victims, who are by now firmly convinced of the genuineness of the scheme, would promptly deposit the money into the fraudsters’ accounts. Once this is done, the fraudsters make a vanishing act.
“In some cases, the fraudsters send QR codes and ask people to scan the codes to receive the money. Many people are unaware that when you scan a QR code, you are sending money to the bank account linked to that code, and not the other way round. As soon as a gullible person scans the code and inputs their PIN, the money gets deducted and credited to the fraudster’s account. In some cases, the fraudsters also manage to obtain ATM card details as well by sweet-talking,” the police said.
Police said that the crimes are not limited only to house rentals but also happen in the sale of household articles.
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