There has been a spurt in cases of cybercrime amid the lockdown restrictions, police said on Thursday. Unregistered websites offering home delivery of items –right from liquor to essential services– have become hunting grounds for cybercriminals here, they added.
Since the lockdown was imposed, cyber frauds in Jamtara –infamous as the cybercrime capital of India– have been active. In fact, some of them even succeeded in duping people in West Bengal on the pretext of delivering liquor to their doorsteps, news reports have said. The incidents occured soon after West Bengal Chief Minister announced home delivery of liquor and later retracted.
The cyber frauds, however, did not stop there. Police said that similar incidents were reported from Jamshedpur too. "Yesterday (Wednesday) we got a report from Jamshedpur that someone was offering home delivery of alcohol. They asked for a registration charge of Rs. 400 and a one-time-payment of Rs.500 to begin the services. They were frauds, of course," said Deputy Superintendent of Police (Cyber Cell), Shivendra, who goes by one name.
The liquor delivery scam has grabbed headlines lately. Sharing the modus operandi of the fraudsters, sources from the Cyber Cell of the police department here said that most of them used phishing to dupe people. Some of them shared their contact numbers online to draw the attention of tipplers as the entire country has gone dry, they added. Once a potential customer dialled the numbers, the fraudsters asked them to make online payments beforehand. Some victims even fell for the promise of discounts if they shared their One Time Password (OTP) and ended up losing a handsome amount of money from their account.
"Since all liquor shops are closed and the sale of liquor is prohibited during the lockdown, people should realise that any person offering home delivery of alcohol is a potential cyber fraud," said Shivendra. It is worth mentioning here that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in its guidelines for lockdown, has strictly prohibited sale of liquor and tobacco products.
Cybercriminals have also been active on platforms like OLX lately, police said. Recently, a Ranchi man was duped by a cyber-fraud who had put up and advertisement for selling a car, they added. However, exact figures on the number of such incidents were not available with the police.
Jharkhand has been home to many gangs of cyber criminals. Jamtara, which has gained the infamy of being the Indian equivalent of Ramnicu Valcea, dubbed as Scamville, initially started breeding cyber criminals and later they spread in other districts neighbouring Jamtara. Around 200 Kilometers north of Ranchi, Jamtara is a largely backward district.
Young cyber criminals from villages in this district have duped rich businessmen, bureaucrats, and even policemen from across the country through phishing, police said.
