Cyber frauds dupe an official of DDIPR office, Silchar of more than ₹40,000

way2barak, Oct.27: Another incident of duping a person in Silchar of more than Rs.40,000 by cyber frauds has come to surface. Probal Deb, an employee of DDIPRO, Barak Valley Region, Silchar. As per reports, Probal Deb purchased an iPhone 14 Pro during this ‘Dhanteras’. However, after unboxing it, while he was checking the settings, he set a password for the handset, which he forgot. Without the password, he was unable to operate his new iPhone 14 Pro.

It was then that Probal Deb went to the store at Silchar from where he purchased his Phone 14 Pro. But they expressed their inability to help him recover his password and rather suggested him to get it done physically either in Guwahati or Kolkata. As it was not feasible for Mr Deb to go to either Guwahati or Kolkata at that moment, so he tried to think of some other means of recovering his lost password.

Probal Deb then resorted to Google. He tried to search online customer care service of Apple iPhone 14 Pro. Luckily, he found during search, a contact number of customer care and immediately he tried to call that number from his another mobile. The customer care help desk assured to solve the matter and thus started a conversation. They also instructed him to install an App in his handset through which they gained access to his phone.

It was during the conversation, that he divulged all information about his new mobile. Finally, they asked him to transfer an amount of Rs.10 only from his account. While he was trying to do that transaction, immediately an amount of Rs.21,000 was debited from his account. The next moment he saw that once again, another amount of Rs.21,000 was debited from his credit card. He immediately, asked them, “What is happening?” But by that time, he was already duped of Rs.42,000. Probal Deb could then understand that all this while, he was talking not with any real customer care service of Apple but with some fraudster who impersonated as a customer care executive of Apple iPhone 14 Pro.

After a few hours, he got another message from Bajaj Finsev, wherein it was stated that his loan of Rs.25 lakh was processed and asked him to confirm it. It was a bolt from the blue for Probal Deb. He immediately rang Bajaj Finserv and came to know that a loan application of Rs.25 lakh was sent online through the app of Bajaj Finserv. He could then understand that it was the same cyber fraud who gained access to his phone and placed the loan application of that hefty amount. He then told Bajaj Finserv about the matter and instructed them to cancel the loan request which they got from his mobile app.

In this connection, Probal Deb lodged a police complaint at Silchar. The investigation by the police is on. However, while speaking with way2barak, Probal Deb said that he has come to know that the frauds duped him from a place in Jharkhand. He said, “I was fortunate that they atleast could not get the loan amount of Rs 25 lakh which they applied after gaining access to my phone through that App. I urge upon all to be very careful while searching any such customer care number from Google because miscreants put on the web phishing sites and fraud phone numbers of companies to dupe persons.”

Cyber crime is a global threat. In a strong step against the menace, Assam Government has launched a 24X7 helpline no 155260. Cyber fraud victims may immediately call this number to block further transfer of the lost money and retrieve it.

To strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crime, in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken several steps like spreading awareness about cyber crimes, issuance of alerts/ advisories, capacity building/ training of law enforcement personnel/ prosecutors/ judicial officers, improving cyber forensic facilities, etc. The Government has launched the ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (www.cybercrime.gov.in) to enable the public to report all types of cyber crimes. A toll-free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.