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Nigerian fraud: Victims paying for greed

With the number of cases going up in Pune, experts point out the professionalism of the cheaters and the precautions to be taken

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The cyber crime cell (CCC) of Pune police is flooded with complaints regarding fake lottery calls. The fraudsters contact people on their mobile or by sending emails and announcing that they have won a large amount of money in dollars. They then extract money from the victim under pretext of procedures and dupe people to the tune of lakhs of rupees in the city. But one of the biggest factors that favours the fraudsters is ignorance of the victims.

There are some cases where fraudsters posed as bank officials, contacted people and lured them with offers of a share in properties worth billions of dollars abroad.

The fraudsters also announce exciting lottery advertisement in local newspaper and urge people to participate in their contests and charge people under pretext of various procedures. The cyber cell sleuths also observed that deceptive emails having contents like ‘You have won a lottery’ of a big amount to dupe the victims.

In some emails, the victim is asked for personal information like bank account number, telephone number, passport number and account password. Later, the suspect sends photos and certificates announcing the large amount of prized being given to the victim before requesting him to deposit money in the bank account. Later, the suspects demand money again and again, urging the account holder to keep the matter confidential.

According to CCC officers, the Nigerian fraudsters operate in a very professional manner. The kingpin works from abroad, so he can’t be arrested. The fraudsters use a large network spread across many cities. The police have managed only to arrest his associates, who have played a smaller role. Hence, such fraud cases are on rise.

Fraudsters pay attention to latest trends in the market.

Deputy commissioner of police (cyber) Sanjay Shinde told dna, “The lack of awareness among people is one of the major reasons for increase in such fraud cases. There are some cases where people were duped in similar fashion more than twice yet they don’t understand the fraudsters’ tricks. Even though you have not bought any lottery ticket, how will you win lottery and that too abroad. Why do people not think and know that it is a trick?” 

Precautions to be taken online

l Do not access unsolicited / spam e-mails and attachments sent by unknown persons
l Be sure that unless and until you have purchased the lottery ticket you could not have won it
l Don’t access and respond to the emails / scarps under the veil of jobs, rewards, lotteries and do not contact the same on emails and don’t furnish your profile
l Don’t send your bank account number, password to unknown person
l Don’t remit money to an account number given by email message\
l Don’t allow use of your bank account to other persons or unknown persons

Case studies 

A well-qualified doctor fell for a Nigerian fraud. Using a different modus operandi this time the Nigerian fraudsters posed as bank officials. They called up a Pune-based doctor and told him an Indian-origin builder’s family died in an accident in Nigeria. The builder owns properties worth billions of rupees  in Nigeria. The fraudsters asked the doctor to pose as the builder’s relative and claimed his properties. The fraudsters told the doctor he has to deposit money in their accounts to complete the procedure and extracted Rs11 lakh from him.

To earn extra cash for her family during the festive season, the wife of a police clerk applied for one such contest advertised in a newspaper only to be duped of Rs70,000 within a week.

Medical student’s profile uploaded on porn website

A medical student who is said to be a close relative of the founder of a major orthopedic hospital, has complained to the cyber crime cell (CCC) of Pune police that his mobile number was allegedly uploaded on a porn site alongside a girl’s picture. The applicant has been getting calls from people soliciting sexual favours for the last couple of days on his mobile.

The student, who was not aware of this, was started getting 100 calls from people in a day. After speaking to the callers, the student came to know that someone had created a fake account in his name on a porn site and his mobile number and later uploaded the same link on popular social networking sites. As a result, people started calling him up in the night.

The student submitted his application to CCC in last week. Thereafter, the CCC officers sent a mail to the social networking sites requesting them to close down the account. Senior police inspector Sarjerao Babar of CCC told dna, “The account has been closed down by the authorities immediately after four days. Our investigation is in progress.”

Sources from CCC told dna on condition of anonymity, “The complainant is a medical student and is a relative of a city-based orthopedic hospital owner. We suspect that some close friends or known persons might have done it.”

The CCC has been receiving many such cases where someone has created fake Facebook account, uploaded mobile number on porn site and used morphed photo as well. A senior officer of CCC told dna, “In most of the cases we have observed that the complainant’s close friend or relative is involved. As a result, after investigating the case the complainant wants to withdraw charges.”

Cyber expert Niranjan Reddy told dna, “People create their account on porn site and thereafter they upload link on Facebook. From there people can go the link. The link can be removed from Facebook but not from the porn site. All these sites mainly operate from western countries and they do not take our cognisance despite several requests.”

The CCC officials failed to investigate the case high profile case where somebody had launched a porn site with URL carrying name of tech-savvy MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil and owner of an IT Company in Silicon Valley last year.

Medical student’s profile uploaded on porn website

A medical student who is said to be a close relative of the founder of a major orthopedic hospital, has complained to the cyber crime cell (CCC) of Pune police that his mobile number was allegedly uploaded on a porn site alongside a girl’s picture. The applicant has been getting calls from people soliciting sexual favours for the last couple of days on his mobile.

The student, who was not aware of this, was started getting 100 calls from people in a day. After speaking to the callers, the student came to know that someone had created a fake account in his name on a porn site and his mobile number and later uploaded the same link on popular social networking sites. As a result, people started calling him up in the night.

The student submitted his application to CCC in last week. Thereafter, the CCC officers sent a mail to the social networking sites requesting them to close down the account. Senior police inspector Sarjerao Babar of CCC told dna, “The account has been closed down by the authorities immediately after four days. Our investigation is in progress.”

Sources from CCC told dna on condition of anonymity, “The complainant is a medical student and is a relative of a city-based orthopedic hospital owner. We suspect that some close friends or known persons might have done it.”

The CCC has been receiving many such cases where someone has created fake Facebook account, uploaded mobile number on porn site and used morphed photo as well. A senior officer of CCC told dna, “In most of the cases we have observed that the complainant’s close friend or relative is involved. As a result, after investigating the case the complainant wants to withdraw charges.”

Cyber expert Niranjan Reddy told dna, “People create their account on porn site and thereafter they upload link on Facebook. From there people can go the link. The link can be removed from Facebook but not from the porn site. All these sites mainly operate from western countries and they do not take our cognisance despite several requests.”

The CCC officials failed to investigate the case high profile case where somebody had launched a porn site with URL carrying name of tech-savvy MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil and owner of an IT Company in Silicon Valley last year.

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