“The caller spoke for around seven minutes, and a lady spoke in English claiming she was calling from Cybercrime, Canada.
Hyderabad:Fraudulently using a display picture of senior IPS officer Ravi Gupta, who is the special chief secretary (home) to the Telangana government, an unknown miscreant made a call from a Pakistani mobile number to a Hyderabad-based businessman, posing as a CBI officer, and demanded a ransom of ₹50,000.
The Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) officials have registered a case against the miscreant for making calls to the businessman while posing as a CBI officer and using a display picture of director-general (DG)-rank officer Ravi Gupta to make WhatsApp calls demanding ransom.
According to TGCSB officials, they received a complaint from one Thumpally Srinivas Reddy, 61, a businessman, stating that he runs a security firm, LandMark Security Services. He received a WhatsApp voice call from +923007498406 on his WhatsApp number — the name on the screen was displayed as “CBI Vikram” and the display picture was of Ravi Gupta, the special chief secretary, home department, Telangana.
“The caller spoke for around seven minutes, and a lady spoke in English claiming she was calling from Cybercrime, Canada. She further stated that my daughter Sahithi was involved in a drugs case in Canada and had been arrested. I was shocked and asked her to let me talk to my daughter. The caller refused and said that third-degree interrogation was going on. She even played the sounds of people crying. Further, she demanded that I transfer an amount of `50,000 to secure my daughter’s release. The caller gave me a PhonePe number — 8240061976,” the complainant said.
The businessman insisted that the caller allow him to speak with his daughter, but she refused and continued threatening him and trying to extort money.
The complainant disconnected the call and immediately called his daughter Sahithi, who resides in Toronto, Canada. His daughter informed him that she was sleeping at home and that everything was fine. The complainant then realised that the caller was fake and that the call had been made from Pakistan.
Based on the complaint, the TGCSB police registered cases under Section 66-D of the IT Act, 2008; Section 308(3) (offence of extortion), Section 318(4) (cheating), Section 319(2) (cheating by personation), and Section 338 (forgery of valuable security) of the BNS.
