Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, April 16
As people seem to have become quite aware of the online banking, shopping and KBC lottery frauds, the cyber criminals have now started coming up with new ways to get you to part with your money. The latest scam that is doing the rounds is ‘WhatsApp Call’ fraud.
Modus operandi
- The scam usually involves a WhatsApp call, but sometimes a message, from someone claiming to be a family member or friend from abroad in need of help
- Aim is to encourage recipients to transfer money
- Usually, the perpetrators pretend they are in a hurry, most likely to entice their victims to take immediate action.
He already knew my nephew’s name and other details about him. When I said your voice doesn’t match with him, he replied as they are talking after a long time, so I am not able to recognise his voice. He said he’s in trouble. He told me he got into a fight with some Britishers and has been arrested. — A victim
In the past one week, five residents based in Jalandhar, Adampur, Hoshiarpur and other districts have fallen prey to fraud and lost over Rs 5 lakh. Although they have registered the complaints with the Punjab Cyber Cell by calling 1930- helpline number, they say they hardly have any hopes that the fraudsters would be traced and they will get back their hard-earned money.
Talking to The Tribune, one of the victims, who requested not to be named, said she…
