People who are looking to buy properties and seeking other services online in the State continue to fall victims to fraudsters in the cyber space. Fraudsters behind fake commercial profiles target those who seek services of maids, babysitters, geriatric service providers, home nurses and office aides. They collect money in advance by offering the service and then disappear.
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“Earlier, they were engaged in cheating people who wanted to purchase second-hand or fresh goods from exclusive commercial portals and digital buying platforms. There were even fake commercial profiles in the name of senior army officers and CISF officers to win the trust of buyers,” said N.V. Sanal, a real estate agent who brought it to the attention of the police. He said there were several senior citizens who had lost money by paying advance amounts to such fraudsters.
A police officer from the hi-tech crime enquiry cell said the users of private commercial platforms in the digital space were found ignoring the warning of such service providers to keep themselves away from the trickery of fraudsters. “Though attempts have been made by the majority of such digital service operators to blacklist or deactivate suspected profiles, many are still falling for fake offers,” he said.
Fake profiles were earlier created using north Indian names. But now fraudsters are using local names to win the trust of unsuspecting buyers. Police sources said some of the suspected fake profile creators from other States were found using online translation services to communicate with local people. Since most of such operators were seeking smaller amounts as advance, many were found encouraging it without any caution, they said.
An IT expert attached to the Kozhikode Cyberdome said installing untrustworthy mobile applications for e-commerce purposes was found to be one of the major reasons for the increasing number of frauds in the virtual space. He pointed out that sharing email addresses and mobile phone numbers with unknown people would open doors for digital fraud at unexpected times.