2 fake social media accounts of I-T joint commissioner used to con her friends out of money; Mumbai Police issue warning to internet users

Gamdevi police have registered a first information report based on the complaint of a joint commissioner of the income tax (I-T) department, after an unknown person

Gamdevi police have registered a first information report based on the complaint of a joint commissioner of the income tax (I-T) department, after an unknown person created two fake social media accounts in her name to con her friends into sending money. The accused allegedly told people on the complainant’s friends list to help with medical expenses of an acquaintance.

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Targetting Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers and other senior government officials is a new modus operandi that cyber fraudsters have adopted to cheat people, said state cyber police.

The complainant, Smita Verma, is a resident of Income Tax Colony, Peddar Road. In her police complaint she stated that on October 12, she received a call from her friend Shailendra Pandey informing her that he received a message on a social media website from an account featuring her name and photo.

“Pandey told the complainant that he also received a photo of a physically-ill woman. The message stated that the daughter of one of Verma’s friend has met an accident and urgently needed ₹15,000 for her treatment and requested Pandey to deposit the same to a UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ID,” said an officer from Gamdevi police station.

After Pandey sent her screenshots of the fake accounts, Verma approached the police and lodged a complaint (of which HT has a copy).

Gamdevi police registered a case against an unidentified person under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 511 (attempting to commit offences) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act. Investigators will soon be writing to the service provider, seeking the IP address details from which the fake profiles were created, said another police officer.

When contacted, Verma declined to comment on the matter.

Such cases have been on the rise in the past few weeks, with IPS, IAS, IRS officers from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar and Kerala being the main targets. “We have been receiving similar complaints, including two from senior IPS officers. Fraudsters target them as they are respectable figures in society and victims would believe any ‘story’ linked to their names,” said Balsingh Rajput, superintendent of state cyber police.

“In such cases, people should first contact the person from whose account he/she received a message requesting financial help, and confirm if the message is genuine. Internet users should never send money to anyone based on interactions on social media without making a preliminary enquiry. If they identify it as a fraud, they should post a public message on their social media account alerting their friends and relatives about the same,” Rajput said.