Fake army officers loot landlords, Visakhapatnam Cyber Police alert citizens

Time and again, cyber criminals have been digging up new holes to trap their victims and loot them. In one of their brand new ideas to fill pockets, these law offenders have staged house rental platforms to victimise house owners and landlords. The Visakhapatnam Cyber Crime Police issued a statement alerting the citizens from compromising their cyber security to such fraudulent activities, considering the rising number of such incidents. As per the police report, 40 cyber crime cases of a similar pattern have been recorded in recent times.

According to the city cyber cops, the fraudsters are posing themselves as Indian Amry officials to gain the goodwill of the victims. As a part of their modus operandi, the criminals primarily approach residences with to-let boards. They then manipulate the landlords into thinking they are genuine army officers searching for a house on rent. Upon gaining the victims’ trust, the fraudsters ask them to transfer a certain amount, stating it as an army procedure, and block them.

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Apart from conducting recces for houses on rent, these criminals have also been gathering information from property advertising platforms such as 99 Acres, Magic Bricks, and others. In their acts, they have also been sending QR codes to landlords, which, if scanned, would divert funds into the fraudsters’ accounts.

Reportedly, they have targeted retail electrical sellers in the city. Initially, the criminals took quotations from these sellers for fans, tube lights, and other appliances in bulk, stating that they were calling from INS Kalyani. Through this, they collected bank account details from the victims and looted them, said the Visakhapatnam Cyber Crime Police.

Upon preliminary investigation, the cyber police found that the bank accounts related to these crimes are majorly based in Bharatpur in Rajasthan and Alwar in Jaipur. On the directives of the Visakhapatnam City Police Commissioner, a team from the cyber crime department has reached Rajasthan to trace these fraudsters. The officials appealed to the citizens to be aware of such fraudulent activities and not to share their bank credentials with anonymous persons.

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