Police warnings fail to reduce cyber crime

SHILLONG: Rising incidents of fraud either on social media or of ATM cards have prompted police in the city to once again issue an advisory to caution citizens against falling prey to such attempts.
SP (City) Vivek Syiem on Wednesday informed that in the past three years, there have been 41 cases of cheating on Facebook and 92 cases of ATM frauds.
He said despite several police advisories, complaints of people falling prey to such crimes were still being received.
“Public are once again cautioned not to provide ATM numbers and the three-digit CVV/CVC number on the reverse side of an ATM card,” Syiem said.
Speaking on the modus operandi of cyber fraudsters, the SP said these callers usually pose as bank officials and speak eloquently in English or Hindi on banking matters. “These calls mostly emanate from fraudsters hailing from the Jharkhand-Bihar belt,” he said.
Syiem said social media users, especially those on Facebook, should check their profile settings and allow access only to known persons so that they do not fall prey to unscrupulous users who ask for intimate photographs or videos and eventually resort to blackmailing.
“It is cautioned that most fraudsters after having communicated with the victim over a period of time use the ploy of being held up in an airport and say they would be released only if a fine was paid to the authorities. It is urged that the public should immediately go to the nearest police station for any clarification or complaint on such matters. Confidentiality will be maintained on their request,” he said.
“The public have also been cautioned against callers posing as online Naaptol employees who inform that a prize for a vehicle has been won. Later, several payments are demanded to process the papers to get the prize after which the victims realise that they are duped,” the SP said.