Conmen Using Foreign Numbers For Committing Cybercrimes: Chattisgarh Cop

Nigerian nationals and Chinese gangs are allegedly trapping innocent people on the pretext of offering money for performing easy tasks online or on the promise of lucrative returns by investing in cryptocurrencies, said a police officer.

Moreover, it has been noticed recently that fraudsters across India are targeting people by using foreign mobile numbers and impersonating foreign nationals.

"As per the recent trends, conmen are using foreign numbers for committing cybercrimes with different modus-operandi," said AIG (technical services) Kavi Gupta.

Sharing more details about the modus-operandi, the officer said, "In some cases, the tricksters using foreign numbers make video calls to people and when it was picked up by the latter, the former immediately film their obscene videos. On the threat of making the video of victims viral, they extort money from them. As another means of tricking people, fraudsters contact people by using foreign numbers and offer jobs. If anyone expresses his/her desire for the offer, the conmen take the victims to a telegram group and ask them to perform some tasks (like liking videos online) and pay Rs 150-300 for completing each task. Eventually, the tricksters ask the victims to make an investment and once anyone starts investing, they begin demanding money on different excuses."

"Similarly, it has been noticed that cybercriminals are committing crimes either by using foreign numbers or virtual numbers," the AIG added.

On being asked about the involvement of foreign nationals in cybercrimes (particularly online forgeries), the officer responded that on several occasions the roles of foreign nationals, and activities of Nigerian citizens have been noticed.

The AIG said, "Moreover, in some cases, the involvement of Chinese and Chinese gangs was also reported. In some cases, people here impersonate foreign nationals to commit the forgeries."

Describing the investment in cryptocurrencies as high risk and requiring technical knowledge, the officer exhorted people not to fall into the trap of those promising higher returns through investment in cryptocurrencies.

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