Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Following the busting of a fake call centre at Aishbagh, police have intensified their social media monitoring to identify and target lucrative offers that often turn out to be traps designed to swindle users out of their money.
During interrogation, the call centre staff admitted to reaching out to people via social media, offering them substantial returns on investments in online share trading schemes. These people were provided with pre-written scripts by the call centre kingpin, Afzal Khan, and his daughter, Sahiba.
Once the potential victims showed interest, they were added to Telegram channels and pressured to invest using specially designed software controlled by the conmen. The scam involved showing the victims substantial profits in their digital accounts, convincing them to invest more.
However, once the victim made a large investment, they were blocked from the Telegram channel, and all the money was stolen by the fraudsters. Police sources said that the call centre staff specifically targeted retired individuals, unemployed youth and businessmen, luring them through attractive online investment offers.
In response to the crackdown, the Cyber Cell has launched an extensive social media awareness campaign to warn the public. Commissioner of Police Harinarayanchari Mishra said that social media monitoring has been stepped up, and the police are focusing on identifying accounts that lure people with fake investment schemes.
Cyber Cell officials have advised social media users to remain cautious. They recommend not accepting friend requests from unknown individuals, avoiding communication with suspicious contacts, and refraining from clicking on unknown links received via WhatsApp, Telegram, or other social media platforms.
