PAKISTANI FRAUDSTERS ARE WELL KNIT, PROFESSIONAL

In the last week of November 2016, Sudhamani, 26, a nurse at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, received a call from an unknown number. From the other end, a man spoke in Hindi with a Punjabi accent, “I am Raj Kumar calling from Mumbai Airtel office. Your mobile number has been selected as winner in an Airtel lucky draw. You have won `50 lakh as prize money.”

Sudhamani got excited. During the 10 minute conversation, little did she know that the man was going to rob `5.4 lakh from her savings.

He made Sudhamani deposit money in bank accounts in instalments. He managed to convince her that she had to pay Income Tax, registration fees, clearance fee and other charges. Soon she started sensing a fraud. Sudhamani went to the police who told her that he was a Pakistani calling from a phone number that starts with +92.

Hundreds of Hyderabadis have been receiving these calls recently. The caller, who speaks fluent Hindi, tells the receiver cases, which was investigated by CCS, are still absconding

As per the information gathered by CCS, who detected one case recently by arresting an Indian handler, the Pakistani callers are operating from call centers after accessing phone numbers from an Internet data base.

The police could not collect the identity details and location of the suspects, as the Pakistani mobile service provider would not reveal details. that he/she won a lottery of Airtel or some other firms. “The fraud convinces the victim that in order to collect the lottery prize, a certain amount has to be deposited as processing charges in bank accounts. After the amount is deposited, the fraudsters’ agents withdraws the cash,” said K.V.M. Prasad, a cyber crime inspector.

The fraudsters are now using new techniques after Reliance Jio was launched. “Actually, these fraudsters have been active since 2014. But, after Reliance introduced Jio, they are calling people and telling that Airtel introduced the draw to attract customers,” said an official. Some Hyderabadis who did not pick up the calls, got messages from these phone numbers asking them to call back if they want to claim the ‘prize’.

“I got two calls. The first guy spoke like a Punjabi and said I won `25 lakh. Initially, I believed. Two days later, I got another call from another guy. He said I won `50 lakh. When I did an Internet search, I understood that it was fake,” said T. Mahesh, an employee of an IT firm in Madhapur.