How tables turned on a cyber-criminal who tried to swindle a Kerala cop

According to Inspector Feesto, he was on duty and in uniform when he got an automated call on his official number. The message asked him to press 9, which in turn transferred him to the “policeman”.

“(I thought) if I reveal my identity, they’ll hang up. So, I followed the instructions and the call got transferred,” he told The Indian Express.

At the other end, “the policeman”, who spoke fluent English, told him his Aadhaar details had been found on the dark web and were registered with people dealing in narcotics, weapons and human trafficking.

No stranger to such cyber scams in his line of work, he allegedly suspected at once it was a digital scam but decided to play along.

“He said all my details with him. I pleaded innocence and feigned ignorance about the dark web,” he said.

As is the usual modus operandi in such cases, the caller allegedly told him that his call was being transferred to the cyber-crime headquarters.

“After this, I was under ‘digital arrest’ and told not to move out of the present premises… Their entire approach was intimidatory… They warned me against speaking to anyone. He claimed that they were monitoring my phone calls and all my activities,” he said.

Soon, Feesto was asked to appear on a video call. After feigning ignorance at first, he pretended to download the video call app, already on his phone. Then, he got on call with his “policeman” caller.

“First, I recorded his video when he came on. When I finally turned on my camera and appeared, he realised I was a police officer and immediately disconnected the call,” he said.

Thrissur police are currently looking for the caller, but Feesto believes it would be a challenging task.

“If there had been a financial transaction, tracking down such fraudsters would have been easier. In this case, there is only a call and we don’t exactly know where it came from,” he said.

This comes at a time when there is a surge in the number of “digital arrest” scams being reported in India. Typically, such scams involve cybercriminals impersonating law enforcement officials or government agencies such as the state police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the Enforcement Directorate, and the Narcotics Bureau to extort and intimidate unsuspecting victims.

The rise in these scams led Prime Minister Narendra Modi to caution the public about such scams in his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address in October.