Don’t fall for ‘colourful’ bait: Cybercrime officials

Hyderabad: Colour prediction frauds are increasingly becoming popular among cyber crooks to lure people with higher returns on betting amounts. Using a colour prediction app, a type of mobile gambling application, where one can place bets to predict the correct colour or a combination of colours on the app, they are targeting people who fall […]

Hyderabad: Colour prediction frauds are increasingly becoming popular among cyber crooks to lure people with higher returns on betting amounts. Using a colour prediction app, a type of mobile gambling application, where one can place bets to predict the correct colour or a combination of colours on the app, they are targeting people who fall easily for the promise of easy money.

Players win money for predicting the correct colour, and the apps offer rewards if they help to enroll more people as well. Police here have now found that these gambling applications are often used by scammers to rope in unsuspecting victims. Usually they lay bait to catch people on various social media platforms, often promising nine times high returns on their bets. Though there is a ban in the State on such games, they organise the bets with fake Internet Protocol addresses.

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“They post attractive colour prediction gaming links on various sites and apps. Those interested in placing bets have to first register their names and give details of Aadhar card, PAN card and other details,” an official said.

The fraudsters then ask the players to download a few apps, which usually will not be available on Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store. The fraudsters sent links to the victims, the official said, adding that once the registration process on the app is done, the fraudsters open a bank account in the name of the player and also link an E-wallet to the account. They then permit the player to start betting.

In these colour prediction apps, victims first place a bet of minimum amount on a particular colour and win double the amount. The win encourages them to invest more money. The app wallet too shows their earnings, but when they try to withdraw that money, they cannot.

Cybercrime officials suspect the scammers could be operating from China, as most of the victims had received calls from Hong Kong-based phone numbers. They suspect there could be nearly 2,000 such betting apps active.

Moral of the story, the officials point out, is that money never comes as easily as predicting a colour. Strangers will never be that interested to help you make money, they say, asking people to be wary of such advertisements and links that come via SMS or WhatsApp or on social media.

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