Bhubaneswar: With cyber crimes including fiscal and digital frauds in the state on rise, Odisha Police Sunday issued an advisory asking people to stay away from sleazy chats adopted by online fraudsters to dupe and blackmail people on various social media platforms.
The proper word for the trick is called ‘sextortion’.
“Fraudsters have adopted a trick of ‘sextortion’ to dupe and blackmail people. People of the state now need to stay away from sleazy and obnoxious video chats on social media,” a senior official said.
Taking to its official Twitter handle, the Odisha Police wrote, “Several fraudsters, including women, are targeting potential victims initially by sending them ‘friend request(s)’ through fake accounts. Eventually, they make video calls to those targeted persons who fall for the trick after expressing their desire to chat.”
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“The cyber fraudsters often lure people into indulging in sleazy chats or video calls. Later, they start blackmailing their targets after recording such chats or conversations through the fake accounts. The cyber criminals blackmail the victims by threatening to make their video public and continue with their attempts to force the victims into paying ransom,” the senior Odisha Police official further said.
Notably, the Odisha Police have appealed people not to entertain or accept any persuasive video call from strangers or unknown numbers. It has also been found that many people do not, usually, report such incidents out of fear or humiliation after falling into the traps of such blackmailers, the Odisha Police advisory pointed out.
Besides, the Odisha Police assured in its tweet to extend all possible help to those who fall victims of digital fraud due to sleazy chats.
PNN
