GUWAHATI: Fraudulent activities done in the name of Guwahati Police Commissioner Harmeet Singh has come to light on Friday.
The Guwahati Police Commissioner took to his micro-blogging site Twitter to inform about the matter and urged the authorities of Facebook-led "WhatsApp" to take necessary action against the fraudsters involved in opening a fake WhatsApp account by using his name.
In the tweet, the top cop wrote, "Some scammer has copied my photo from the internet and is sending WhatsApp messages. Request anyone who gets such a message to press the Report & Block buttons available in WhatsApp.
@WhatsApp it's time you woke up to this scam, which is rampant."
Notably, cybercriminals used a photo of the Guwahati Police Chief in uniform as a display picture (DP) on the popular social media messaging mobile application WhatsApp.
On the other hand, on August 26, the Assam Police CID successfully tracked down over Rs 10 lakh, siphoned by a fraudster from a city resident.
According to CID sources, the fraudster called the victim lady over the phone under the guise of an official of the Punjab National Bank. On the pretext of clearing a cheque, he asked the lady to share the OTP she had received on her mobile number. The lady shared the OTP.
The fraudster then siphoned off Rs 11,09,202 from her account. She immediately filed a complaint at Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System 24 x 7 Helpline number 1930.
Earlier Industries and Commerce Minister Bimal Borah also became the victim of a similar incident, who later informed the Police Commissioner of Guwahati about the matter and urged him to take necessary action.
Bimal Borah said that some cybercriminals opened the fake WhatsApp account by using his name and photograph and sent messages to various people including his department officials and offered to invest in many online sites, to buy gift cards.
"I have informed the Police Commissioner of Guwahati. The Police Commissioner told me that, the cybercriminals who are involved in this may be from foreign countries. I am hopeful that police will nab the criminals and will take action," Bimal Borah said to reporters.
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