FPJ Cyber Secure: Alarm Bells Over Cyber Frauds In Mulund

The rise in cybercrime against senior citizens is at its peak in Mulund. These crimes include fake power bill frauds, malicious link frauds, and ‘fake-call-from-a-friend’ emergency hacked calls, all targeting senior citizens who are known to be ‘soft targets’.

In the past three days, several senior citizens have approached the Mulund police and its neighbouring Navghar police, which falls in Mulund East, to register FIRs against unknown people.

A 60-year-old retired teacher, a resident of Gawanpada in Mulund East, approached the police on August 21 after she was allegedly duped of ₹4.96 lakh. She was approached via a text message and then called, informing her that the electricity bill was due and that power to her house would be disconnected. Going by how the fraudsters instructed her, she believed they were “executives” from Mahavitran and downloaded multiple apps that turned out to be with the intent to steal money from her bank account.

On the same day, in Mulund West, a 59-year-old man approached the police, alleging that he lost ₹1 lakh to cyber frauds who cheated him on the pretext of providing hotel rooms in Haridwar. The victim is an employee at Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) as a development officer. He wanted to book rooms for a short vacation with his family but ended up losing money.

The very next day, August 22, an 87-year-old man, a resident of Mhada Colony in Mulund East, got a message saying that electricity would be disconnected at night as his bill was due. The man lives alone and was scared that it would get difficult for him to move around without electricity, so he frantically dialled the customer care number of Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). Though his call was not received, he got another call from an unknown number, purportedly from executives of Mahavitran, offering assistance to pay the due bills. He was made to download several apps and then transactions were made via net banking; he ended up losing ₹11,66,468.

Two days later, on Thursday, another senior citizen, aged 62, a resident of Gokhale Road in Mulund East, approached the Navghar Police alleging another cybercrime. He received a message on August 22 from a close friend on WhatsApp, asking for money owing to a medical emergency. He promptly sent ₹98,000 to the friend’s bank account but was asked for ₹6 lakh. When he asked his daughter to call and check the status, he found out that the friend’s number had been hacked.

Awareness is the only way forward: Police

The police, meanwhile, say that ‘awareness’ is the only way forward. “Awareness in physical form, group meetings, on online platforms, like Facebook, which is more senior-citizen friendly – is the only way to deal. Awareness can also encourage them to register cases – especially within the “golden hour” framework as that can at least save their life-long savings. We also suggest the local banks come up with helpline numbers and advertise those numbers on social platforms so people can approach them anytime for assistance. Apart from this, we have also informed local TV channels to run "alerts" about cyber crime, it's do's and don'ts - so more awareness is created among the masses,"said a police official from Navghar police.