A recent Twitter thread by a film critic exposed a phishing scam that has infiltrated Delhi. Sucharita, armed with a riveting firsthand experience, recalled how a new scam has been targeting innocent individuals through deceptive automated calls masquerading as the Delhi Police. And behind this facade lies a cunning trap aimed at extracting personal information from unsuspecting victims.
Sucharita recounted her experience, stating, "Just got an automated call saying 'This call is from @DelhiPolice, a document of yours needs to be picked up, stay on the line and press...garbled.' I randomly press 1, it connects me to a man claiming to be a cop, asking why I have called the police line."
The person on the other end of the line, who identified himself as Rahul Singh, a sub-inspector from the Kirti Nagar police station, proceeded to ask for her name and claimed that she had some missing documents, including her Aadhar card, PAN card, and ATM card. However, soon it became evident to Sucharita that it was a scam. She noted, "Obvious at this point yeh scam hai, I'm mildly curious and I say 'nope, I've got everything.'"
The scammer then took a more aggressive approach, mentioning a certain Vipul Singh who had been caught with stolen ATM cards and claimed that one of the cards had Sucharita's name on it. He asked her to confirm the last four digits of the card.
Realizing the fraudulent nature of the call, Sucharita decided to take action, stating, "Bass means my patience is this much only, Sunday morning hai after all. Toh I hang up saying 'I'll get in touch with Kirti Nagar police station directly.'"
The film critic emphasised the authenticity of the scam call, highlighting that both the automated message and the English-speaking scammer were highly convincing. She also provided the phone number associated with the scam: +91 96681 9555.
Read the full thread on Twitter below:
Delhi Police soon responded asking her to register a complaint. “You may register your complaint on the Cyber Crime Reporting Portal,” they wrote.
One user shared a similar incident they faced last year from, interestingly, a nine-digit number. They wrote: “A similar call was received by one known presently living in Mumbai, moved from Delhi last year. The number is interestingly 9 digit.”
Another user wrote: “My dad received a similar call a few days back, the lad asked his name then the follow up question was, what was his mobile number, that's when he grew suspicious and asked what police station was he calling from which led to him disconnecting the call.”
Sucharita's concluded that it is very easy to fall for such scams, especially the elderly. “It would be SO easy to fall for this for a senior citizen or someone who isn’t prepared to be scammed everytime the phone rings in 2023,” she wrote.
She also advised her 41,700 followers to "Sawdhaan Rahein. Satark Rahein" (stay alert. stay cautious), in Crime Patrol style.
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