By MANOJ KUMAR JENA, OP
Bhubaneswar: Cyber fraudsters have adopted a new modus operandi to extort money by impersonating police officers and falsely accusing people of accessing pornographic websites, claiming it is a punishable offence, the Bhubaneswar Cyber Police said Thursday.
According to the police, at least five such cases have been reported this week.
However, the targeted individuals remained alert, did not fall prey to the scam, and reported the fraudulent calls to the Cyber Police Station.
“Cyber fraudsters have adopted a new modus operandi, targeting people at random, particularly youths.
They call victims while posing as police officers and falsely accuse them of accessing an adult website, claiming it is a criminal offence.
The callers then threaten them with arrest unless they pay money,” said ACP Suchismita Das, IIC of the Cyber Crime and Economic Offences Police Station.
Earlier in the day, a 22-yearold woman from the City narrowly escaped being duped after cyber fraudsters allegedly tried to extort money from her by impersonating the Director General of Police (DGP).
“The caller claimed to be the DGP and demanded Rs 21,000 as a fine, accusing me of accessing an adult website.
The fraudster had the DGP’s photograph as his profile picture and threatened to arrest me if I did not pay immediately.
Suspecting it was a scam, I blocked the number and reported the incident to the Cyber Police Station,” said the woman, who requested anonymity.
“The callers were found to be operating from Uttar Pradesh. In another case, they impersonated an Additional Commissioner of Police from Varanasi and demanded Rs 1,500 from a victim.
However, the person was aware of such scams and did not fall into their trap,” ACP Das said.
“If you receive a call from an unknown number with the caller claiming to be a police officer, ask them to properly identify themselves.
Most of these fraudsters speak in Hindi, which can often help people recognise the calls as suspicious.
If they demand money or threaten you, disconnect the call immediately, dial the cybercrime helpline 1930 and report the incident to the nearest Cyber Police Station,” ACP Das advised.
