Delhi Police is probing two cyber fraud cases where fake Unified Payments Interface (UPI) IDs of the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-Cares) Fund were created to dupe people into parting with money for donations to the fight against Covid-19.
Delhi Police cyber cell investigators traced people behind the fraud to some areas in Jharkhand, including Jamtara, which has emerged as a hub of cyber frauds such as phishing in recent years.
Cyber cell officials said that during an investigation they came across 80 fake UPI IDs that were created around the same time in March when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the PM-Cares Fund.
“All such fake UPI IDs, which looked similar to the original ID of PM-Cares Fund, were deactivated as soon they came to our notice, either during the investigation or flagged by other agencies. A majority of the scamsters have been traced to areas in Bihar and Jharkhand’s Jamtara, Hazaribagh,” said deputy commissioner of police (cyber cell) Anyesh Roy.
The ongoing lockdown for the coronavirus disease outbreak and the fact that the racketeers are located in thickly forested areas where Maoist rebels are active have prompted investigators to delay sending in raiding teams to the areas. Senior officers said the operation may last more than a week and arranging logistics such as food and accommodation in the terrain would be difficult in the present circumstances.
{{/usCountry}}The ongoing lockdown for the coronavirus disease outbreak and the fact that the racketeers are located in thickly forested areas where Maoist rebels are active have prompted investigators to delay sending in raiding teams to the areas. Senior officers said the operation may last more than a week and arranging logistics such as food and accommodation in the terrain would be difficult in the present circumstances.
{{/usCountry}}“We will soon be sending our teams to catch the suspects,” said DCP Roy.
A senior police officer familiar with the developments said two brothers were arrested in Hazaribagh last month for being part of the racket that had duped people to the tune of around R52 lakh in the guise of donations to the PM-Cares Fund. The racket’s mastermind is still at large.
“Our teams will also get in touch with the Hazaribagh police and if required, the two brothers will be questioned to ascertain if their gang created the fake UPI IDs that came to our notice..,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.
The city police detected the first fake UPI ID on March 28, just a couple of hours after the Prime Minister announced its formation and called for donations to help fight the Covid-19 outbreak.
DCP Roy said that around R47,000 was deposited in the fake UPI ID “Pmcare@sbi” by the time it was blocked and a case was registered. Within a week, the cyber cell officials came across another case wherein the screenshot of a fake UPI ID was uploaded on social media, urging people to donate to the fund.
“We registered a separate case and both the cases were probed. The fraudsters in both the cases were traced to Bihar and Jharkhand,” he added.
Last month, Maharashtra cyber police officials said racketeers were using fake links to dupe people in the name of online donations to the PM-Cares Fund and that 78 cases were registered for spreading misinformation online on the coronavirus outbreak. The officials asked the people to use the authentic link, which is pmcares@sbi, to donate funds to fight the virus.