A woman officer of the rank of PA from a collector in Sivaganga on June 26 received a WhatsApp message from a mobile number with a display picture (DP) of the collector, requesting her to purchase an Amazon gift card, and to return the amount early. was promised.
Without a doubt, he opened a link that was sent on WhatsApp and also provided bank details as directed by the stranger who sent the message. Earlier 10 thousand rupees were withdrawn from his account. She got 30 similar messages and kept clicking and filling in the details.
A total of ₹3 lakh was debited from his account and in the end, he realized that he had been duped by an unknown fraudster and that the number did not belong to the collector. Thereafter, he complained to the Superintendent of Police.
Similarly, at least 10 officers of the rank of Divisional Revenue Officer (DRO) and Tehsildar received phishing messages in 10 districts like Coimbatore, Vellore, Ariyalur, Erode and Tiruvallur with DPs of respective collectors in two months from unknown numbers.
However, the officials were alert and informed the concerned cyber crime police stations.
Director General of Cyber Crime Amresh Pujari told The Hindu, “Cyber criminals easily picked up photographs of district collectors and other officials as they are public figures and their photographs are publicly available. By making those pictures DP, the fraudsters targeted officers below the collector through WhatsApp chat. We have received at least 10 complaints across the state and have also written to WhatsApp to block 19 numbers. Investigation is on to trace the culprits who sent those messages.”
Meanwhile, a source said that Principal Secretary, Revenue Kumar Jayant had also issued instructions to the revenue officials in this regard and advised them not to make any calls or messages unless it is from the official numbers of the collectors. Don’t take action.