African Arrests May Be Tip Of Cyber-Crime Iceberg
Gajanan Khergamker | Mumbai
When the sleuths of Mumbai’s Western Region Cyber Police Station, Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) were approached by a female job aspirant who complained of being duped of Rs 26,37,473 from 5 April 2022 to 1 July 2022 in lieu of a job in the US, it reeked of another cyber-crime – the latest in the trend across the nation – and one that seemed to be the tip of an iceberg. Following a preliminary inquiry, they registered an FIR on 21 October 2022 and launched an investigation in the regard.
 |
| (From left) PC Amol Desai, WPC Chaya Tengale, API Poonam Jadhav, PI Mahendra Jadhav, PC Keshav Takik and PC Mayur Thorat with two accused (faces covered) |
In four coordinated raids across Pune on the night of 22 November, a team of BKC cyber police, including PI Mahendra Jadhav and API Poonam Jadhav, arrested Greenwale Ndhlovu from Nambia, Dorcus Nakabuka from Uganda, Secilia Nghinasheni from Namibia and Tosin alias Kofi Onkor Don from Ghana, who were running the racket from rented apartments in Pune’s Pimpri Chichwad and Loni Kalbhor areas.
“A search of their computers reveals lists of a whopping two lakh email addresses and 1.04 lakh mobile numbers of potential victims and email templates used in cyber crimes such as retail website frauds and lottery scams. They were in contact with felons specialising in the sale of data and had purchased the email addresses and numbers from one such gang, bank account details from another gang and the data of officials with the US Embassy to be impersonated from a third gang,” revealed DCP (Cyber Crime) Dr. Balsing Rajput.
 |
| Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Dr. Balsing Rajput |
The arrested accused were remanded to police custody till 3 December 2022 and were interrogated about their antecedents. They were then placed in magisterial custody following their appearance in court on 3 December. A case has also been registered at the Hyderabad Cyber Police Station regarding financial fraud against the accused by promising similar jobs.
Misuse Of Visa Rampant Among Felons
Of the four accused, three had reportedly arrived on Student Visas and were ‘studying’ in Pune while the fourth - Kofi Onkor Don had arrived in India on a Medical Visa. Apparently, investigations revealed, their passports too had expired.
“It is imperative that one checks the antecedents of callers before making any payment online,” says BKC cyber police in-charge PI Suvarna Shinde, adding, “Of late, desperation has driven many to crime and the onus of preventing such incidents rests entirely up to individuals who must exercise caution especially when online.”
Following the COVID lockdowns and the dearth in jobs, there has been a surge in the occurrence of offences involving the promise of prizes through lotteries, overseas job prospects and work opportunities. The African job scam is the latest in the line of cyber-crimes.
In October 2022, the Delhi unit of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested three South Africans from a hotel in South Mumbai and recovered two kg of cocaine worth Rs 10 crore in a follow-up operation after arresting a woman, in Tilak Nagar in Delhi with five kg of cocaine worth Rs 25 crore. Reportedly, during the course of interrogation, the woman accused informed officials that she had procured the contraband from the South Africans and handed over their mobile numbers.
During the course of investigation, it transpired that these South Africans arrived from Ethiopia and had sold it to the woman accused who was to hand over the contraband to peddlers in Delhi. The NCB officials said the accused were part of a huge drug-trafficking racket that had international ramifications.
In February 2022, a South African was held at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport for smuggling eight kg of heroin worth Rs 56 crore. The drugs were reportedly concealed inside three small bags.
SoBo’s Colaba Famed For Infamy
South Mumbai’s Colaba district has been known to house drug peddlers and pushers over the last few decades. Charles Sobhraj and Shantaram’s being cases in point. In the late eighties till recently, even walking down the by-lanes of Colaba behind the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel along Mere Weather Road was fraught with risk and residents would avoid the zone following dusk.
 |
| South Mumbai's Colaba bylanes were thronged by international felons like Charles Sobhraj and drug peddlers |
It's the teeming crowds of couldn’t-care-less tourists and the predictable surge in anonymity that provides the perfect ruse for felons to operate in a zone where residents look the other way to avoid confrontations with lumpen elements. The onus of cleaning up the zone rested with the local police who, over the years, successfully flushed the zone of the elements.
Now, the modus operandi has changed, and the offences have turned digital: Like when Colaba’s 57-year-old Radha Nair recently received an innocuous-looking message on WhatsApp informing her she needed to upgrade her KYC details to prevent her phone service from being terminated.
"I would usually ignore such messages but somehow, that day, I decided to click on it to prevent my phone service from being disconnected. I called up the number and the person on the other side said I need to make a transaction of Rs 10/- to recharge the sim. He asked for the OTP, I received on my phone. While giving the OTP, I even told him that don't use it to withdraw more than Rs 10/- as there are many scams these days. He assured me and generated another OTP saying the previous one had failed. And, that was it... I lost almost two lakh rupees that I had been saving up to pay for my son's semester fee. In fact, I don’t keep such big amounts in my account, I was going to withdraw it the next day itself but then this happened,” said Radha who was left shell-shocked by the incidence. She rushed to the Colaba Police Station whose cyber-crime sleuths swung into action.
 |
| API Amol Waghmare |
“A message informing the recipient warning him/her of a power outage should a pending electricity bill not be cleared is usually sent. Following the victim’s clicking a link, the scammer manages to ‘clone’ the phone and, subsequently withdraw funds from ‘linked’ bank accounts,” he says.
‘Need To Exercise Caution When Online’
Members of the public must exercise precaution while using mobile phones and other electronic devices. DCP Rajput offers, "Mobile users must not share OTPs, CVVs, Passwords, PAN Card and Aadhar Card details with unknown persons. They must not accept friend requests from strangers or video calls from unknown numbers. Many cyber offences occur when users click on links unwittingly so one must not open unknown emails and suspicious links or even scan unknown QR codes."
Online scamsters prey on click baits such as obscene videos and images also those posing the temptation of easy money. DCP Rajput adds, "One must take care and not succumb to temptation especially on social media or believe fake loan schemes. Also, preventive steps must be taken such as locking and keeping profiles private, keeping 'international transactions' off, setting purchase limit on credit and debit cards, etc. And, in the event of a cyber-crime, report it immediately."
In 2019, 2,370 cyber-crime cases were registered in Mumbai city as compared to 3,890 cases registered in Mumbai city in 2022 and till October, a whopping 64.13 per cent rise following the two lockdowns. The desperation has upped the incidence of crime and the writing is out there on the wall for everyone to see. With the surge in electronic devices and the dependence on applications, an equitable surge in cyber-crimes is only a given.
(With inputs from Manu Shrivastava)
