Explained: How online fraudsters deceive scores of gullible victims

As per numbers obtained from Pune City Police, the Cyber Crime Cell has received 37 complaints of online lottery frauds and 32 on online dating frauds so far this year. This does not include the number of similar complaints filed at different police stations of Pune City Police and Pimpri-Chinchwad Police.

Why people fall for such scams

A common link between all the victims seems to be that they are well-educated. “In almost all the online lottery and dating cyber frauds, we found that the victims were well-educated. They blindly believe in the cyber fraudsters, who get in touch with them over mobile phones and through social media, and get cheated,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (cyber crime) Sambhaji Kadam.

On the latest such case, Police inspector R S Rajmane of Vishrambag police station said, “Fraudsters allegedly contacted a well-educated retired person over phone in August 2017 and told him that he has won a lottery of Rs 12.8 lakh from an online shopping website. He believed in the fraudsters so much that following their instructions, he transferred over Rs 17. 5 lakh into multiple bank accounts in different installments, as charges to claim the lottery amount. It is strange as the victim paid a few lakhs more than the lottery amount assured to him by the cyber criminals.”

In another case with the Chikhali police station, a complainant who lost Rs 65 lakh to cyber fraudsters works as manager in a major automobile company. After coming in contact with cyber fraudsters through a ‘dating website’ in May 2019, he transferred a total of Rs 65 lakh into different bank accounts as per their instructions. He was told that the money was ‘holding charge’ for account verification, commission, and other purposes. When he didn’t get the services assured by the ‘dating site’, he approached police.

The complainant even took a loan to make some of these payments to the cyber criminals behind the ‘dating service’.

In a case lodged in February this year, a 38-year-old IT professional in Pune was duped by online fraudsters after he befriended a woman on a dating website, who made him pay Rs 23 lakh under various pretexts. She told the complainant that she had come to Delhi from abroad and pretended to face various problems at the airport on arrival.

Modus operandi of cyber fraudsters

According to cyber security expert Rohit Srivastava, online fraudsters manage to collect a large amount of information about their potential victims. “A huge amount of data, like phone numbers and email addresses, is collected in different ways… for example, asking someone to fill a form for some lottery prize in a mall or at a petrol pump… This bulk data is sold to cyber fraudsters, who then contact these people by making phone calls, sending SMSs and emails etc about fraudulent schemes like online lotteries.

Some of those who are contacted get lured by the promise of making some fast cash… and get cheated…,” he said.

Fraudsters often ask their targets to transfer money into different bank accounts as various ‘charges’ for receiving the lottery prize, availing dating services and other fake reasons, said police.

DCP Kadam said cyber criminals lure people from poor backgrounds to open such accounts in different banks, and then keep their ATM cards. After money is transferred by the victims to the ‘beneficiary’ bank accounts, fraudsters withdraw it immediately. Some part of the money is given to ‘beneficiary’ account holders.

“It is essential that banks conduct stringent verification of KYC documents while opening bank accounts,” said Kadam.

Police said cyber fraudsters based in one city often target people from other cities. Some of the cyber fraudsters also have international links. Last year, police had arrested a Nigerian national from Delhi for allegedly cheating a Pune man of Rs 16.5 lakh through a fake online lottery scheme.

Police said the victim had received an email about winning an online lottery of Rs 1.7 crore. The victim replied to the email and fraudsters asked him to deposit Rs 45,800 as ‘tax code’, Rs 2.48 lakh as ‘account upgradation charges’ and Rs 1.7 lakh as ‘anti-terrorist charges’ in different bank accounts. They also sent a fake card of a Scotland-based bank to the victim and made him pay Rs 6 lakh for activating it, and another Rs 4.45 lakh as other charges. But after making all these payments online, the victim never got any ‘lottery prize’.

Preventive steps that can be taken

“So far, we have arrested 43 people in connection with different cyber crime cases this year, but people should be cautious while sharing their personal information,” said DCP Kadam.

Police said citizens should avoid submitting details like bank account numbers, ATM card numbers and other information with strangers or any unknown person over the phone.

Suspicious online offers and messages, or emails sent by unknown persons, should be ignored. Also, citizens should report to the police any suspicious contact numbers and emails that offer fraudulent schemes. No money transfers should be made to any bank account without confirmation about the scheme offered online by any website.