By Neeraj Kumar
Patna: In a series of cyber fraud incidents, cybercriminals posing as Mumbai Police officers duped a resident of Patna, with one victim losing Rs 86,000. Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Dariyapur in Paliganj, fell prey to the scam when fraudsters contacted him, claiming to be officers from the Economic Investigation Department of Mumbai Police. They falsely alleged that a woman named Pooja Mate had filed a money laundering case against him and threatened him with imprisonment unless he paid a sum. After convincing him to install a so-called ‘safety app’, the criminals siphoned off Rs 86,000 from his account. Rakesh Kumar has since lodged a complaint with the cyber police.
In another case, Ashok Kumar, a resident of Ashiana, was told by cybercriminals that insurance had been issued via his credit card, and they offered to cancel it. When Ashok agreed, they sent him a one-time password (OTP), which he shared with them, resulting in Rs 44,897 being withdrawn from his account. Similarly, Vijay Kumar, an employee at the Transport Headquarters, was duped under the pretext that his credit card had expired. After being asked to download an app and share an OTP, Rs 18,712 was fraudulently withdrawn from his account.
Guddi Kumari, from East Lohanipur, was deceived with a promise of Rs 1.40 crore in exchange for an old Rs 2 note. The scammers tricked her into downloading an app and then stole Rs 86,256 from her account.
A resident of Beur area became a victim of sextortion and was cheated out of Rs 11,000, while Dilip Kumar of Bihta lost Rs 69,000 in a scam involving electricity meter updates. Fortunately, after reporting the incident to the police, Rs 20,000 of the stolen amount was put on hold.
In Bahadurpur, a cyber miscreant created a fake Facebook ID in a local resident’s name and began soliciting money from their acquaintances. A case has been registered with the cyber police regarding this fraud.
Cyber crimes continue to escalate in Patna, with numerous residents falling victim to sophisticated scams orchestrated by criminals posing as authorities.
