Hyderabad: ‘KBC’ conmen take new route

Hyderabad: After duping victims of their money, the notorious KBC lottery fraudsters are now putting them at risk of facing criminal cases as well. According to police, fraudsters are now asking people to buy two SIM cards of a particular telecom service provider. After the victims get the SIM card and insert them in the […]

Hyderabad: After duping victims of their money, the notorious KBC lottery fraudsters are now putting them at risk of facing criminal cases as well.

According to police, fraudsters are now asking people to buy two SIM cards of a particular telecom service provider. After the victims get the SIM card and insert them in the phone, the fraudsters, on the pretext of facilitating their lottery payment, are asking them to download WhatsApp and then to share the OTP they receive on their handset.

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“When the person shares the OTP, the fraudsters use it to activate WhatsApp on their handset using the victim’s number. This WhatsApp number is used to cheat other persons. They are using this technique to mislead investigators and avoid getting caught,” a cybercrime official said.

In recent cases of KBC lottery fraud in the city, police found that the fraudsters were sending to victims a video of a woman explaining why it was necessary to purchase a SIM card and share the phone number and WhatsApp OTP with the ‘management of KBC lottery’.

“The woman who made the video seems to be a victim herself and might have been conned into doing so. Several other women also made such videos after purchasing a SIM card and sent it to the fraudsters who again sent those videos to other women to convince them into buying SIM cards by furnishing their own identities,” the official said.

The KBC lottery fraudsters, mostly based in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, also send an audio message through a WhatsApp number saying the victim has won Rs.25 lakh in the lottery.

“On the pretext of transferring money, they trick victims into sending them money citing various charges,” a Hyderabad Cybercrime official said.

In the latest case, a domestic help from Secunderabad lost Rs 1.02 lakh after she got an audio message on WhatsApp and followed the instructions of the conman. She realised later that she was duped and approached the police.

Couple dupes people of Rs 2.5 cr

A couple cheated people to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore in the guise of a micro chit fund business at Suraram Colony in Kushaiguda, police said here on Monday.

The couple, M Vijay Kumar and Padma, residents of Rajiv Gruhakalpa in Suraram colony since the last 15 years, had lured the local residents into investing into the chit fund business. Police said they recently collected Rs 2.5 crore as investments and gold ornaments from people and went absconding. Enquiries revealed the couple had sold the house they were living in.

The investors staged a protest and approached the Dundigal police and lodged a complaint. A case was booked and is being investigated.

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