Bhopal: Employees On Poll Duty New Target For Cyber Crooks, 15 Plaints In 3 Days

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): With all the political parties gearing up for Assembly elections to be held in November 2023, cyber crooks have buckled up their belts to make a quick buck.

They have been targeting government officials who are to be deployed on election duty. They tell government personnel that they would get their polling duties cancelled or get location changed to place of their choice in return of money. District cyber crime cell officials said 15 complaints were received in last three days since election dates were announced. Officials said data of government employees was not safe. They are leaked by unidentified sources, which make it easy for cyber fraudsters to contact them.

Recent cases included government employees from Piplani and Awadhpuri. Assistant professor teaching chemistry at a government college in Bhopal, Dr Nitesh Pal, was contacted by an unidentified caller. The caller said he could change his election duty’s location. The caller then sought OTP from Pal to recover minimal fee for the purpose. After Pal shared OTP, Rs 2 lakh were siphoned off from his bank account.

Likewise, elderly police constable Satyakant Sharma (59) was played clever on by cyber fraudsters, who lured him into their trap by telling him that as he was on the brink of retirement, he could face difficulties in discharging election duty. Sharma believed their words to be true. The crooks then lured him into sharing his screen by making him download an application, and siphoned off Rs 75,000 from his bank account.

Cyber crime officials stated that such cases are expected to soar in the state for which awareness needs to be generated.

Advisory issued

Additional deputy commissioner of police (crime) Shailendra Singh Chouhan told Free Press that the district cyber crime cell had already issued an advisory to prevent frauds related to election duty cancelled in future.