Gurugram cops educate residents about cyber scamsters

Police have started calling up people and asking them to stay vigilant and notify their social circles

Gurugram Police has started a campaign to educate and alert residents about the potential traps laid by scammers related to stock market or investment schemes through different social media groups, officers aware of the matter said on Monday.

Deputy commissioner of police (South) Sidhant Jain said as part of the initiative, the Cyber Police personnel daily call up 100 people. (Representational image)

Police have started calling up people after getting their numbers, after procuring them through different sources, that are added to several groups on social media platforms, and asked them to stay vigilant and notify their social circles, they added.

Deputy commissioner of police (South) Sidhant Jain said as part of the initiative, the Cyber Police personnel daily call up 100 people, providing them with crucial insights into cyber fraud prevention. “Through these interactions, residents are being sensitised to the tactics adopted by scammers, emphasising the importance of staying informed and cautious while navigating the online platforms,” he added.

Jain said that since the beginning of the year, scammers have been luring people with enticing offers of investment and stock market opportunities, duping them of lakhs and crores of rupees. “The Cyber Police stations started receiving five to six complaints daily from January onwards. Scammers initiated a new trend to deceive people. To combat this fraud, we instructed police personnel from the four cyber stations in the district to call 100 people daily and provide them information about this new trend. After calling from all four police stations, the recordings of the calls are sent to them, and reports are filed accordingly,” he said.

Police said the numbers have been gathered from different platforms. The scammers have created thousands of WhatsApp and Telegram groups under the guise of investment and stock market. “From there, they gather numbers and the cyber crime teams connect with the members of the groups except the admin, and warn them that the groups have been created by scammers to dupe them. They are also asked to caution friends and acquaintances about leaving the groups. If they have been cheated, they are advised to contact the cyber helpline and file a complaint at their nearest police station,” said Jain.

Police have been following up with people to check if they left the groups or not. If they don’t, then a follow-up call is made at least thrice, said police.

Since January 1 this year, 280 scammers have been arrested for allegedly duping people, said police.