Guwahati: The Assam Police have launched a fresh probe into cybercrimes in which scammers blackmail victims into paying large sums of money.
The fraudsters use video calls to prey on everyone from young boys to elderly people. A woman suddenly appears in nude during the video conference, and then they grab a screenshot.
The scam artists hack into the victims’ phones when they answer the video calls and download their personal images and contact information.
They extorted thousands of dollars from them by using these as a kind of blackmail.
According to Tinsukia Police, this cyber scam affects at least six persons every day.
The police said, “The fraudster makes a video call and speaks for a short while. The fraudster then blackmails the victim by taking screenshots of a woman suddenly appearing nude. Recently, we receive these cases on a daily basis, and because of their embarrassment, the victims remain silent.”
Another thing that has been observed is that as soon as a victim receives a video call, the perpetrator hacks into the victim’s phone, downloads any private or personal photos, and then threatens to transmit the images to all of the victim’s contacts or their family members.
He further said, “Few victims had to hand these fraudsters more than Rs. 25 lakhs because they were afraid of being humiliated. And we infer that the current spike in suicide cases without leaving any note or potential justification may be related to these types of cybercrimes.”