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Techie sees through trickery by cyberfrauds; here's how

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: A team of scammers got a taste of their own medicine after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) disconnected a suspicious mobile number and blocked at least 20 mobile devices linked to it on Tuesday.

The action was taken after several complaints of cyber fraud raised by a Bengaluru-based tech entrepreneur, Aditi Chopra.

The DoT has been cracking down on cybercrime incidents, carried out by online fraudsters to deceive and hoodwink people by mischivous means.

On Tuesday, the DoT in its reply to Chopra, said that it had disconnected the mobile number and SIM cards vide which she was receiving fraudulent messages.

Aditi in a post on platform X, shared her experience when she was about to become victim of a cybercrime.

She said that the fraudsters used a clever tactic to try and steal her money and had she not seen through their trickery, they would have got away with the online scam.

Explaining the details on platform 'X', she said while she was in office, somebody impersonating her father’s acquaintance called her and said he was transferring money to her number as he was facing some issues.

The credit messa g e blipped on her phone while she was still on call and the caller requested her to send back Rs 27,000 as he transferred Rs 30,000.

She was confused for a moment and would have proceeded with the fund transfer because of the urgency the caller displayed but then good sense prevailed and she decided to check with her father first.

It was then that she realised how the fraudster had tactfully designed a fake bank message and sent it to her mobile phone, giving the impression that it was from a bank.

She took up the matter with the DOT’s Chakshu application and within days, the ‘cyber fraud gang’ was busted.

What is Chakshu?

Chakshu is an online service by the DoT, which enables citizens to report suspected fraudulent communication.

Users can register their complaints on the portal sancharsaathi.gov.in about impersonation or any misuse of services through call/SMS or WhatsApp.

The Bengaluru techie also dropped an advice for gullible customers on X saying, "never use the same device, on which you received the fake credit alert for accessing your bank account as that will make the system easier for scamsters."