Now, online crash course in cyber fraud

Now, online crash course in cyber fraud (File Photo)


Cyber crimes are, of late, increasingly becoming a major challenge to the Delhi Police. The increasing dependence on online transactions have given enough leeway to the cyber thugs to dodge the law with newer, weird and out of the book ways of defrauding people.

Since online fraud fetches hefty amounts of money, it has become a trend of sorts with fraudsters to take to cyber crime country-wide. This is the reason a number of swindlers switch to cyber crimes to ensure a good earning, which may go up to Rs 5 to 8 lakh a month.

What’s all the more intriguing is that these cyber cheats are now getting an online training in cyber fraud. The groups of online thugs that are running the training are making it big as demand for such training is high on social media.
These revelations have been made by some of the arrested accused of cyber crime.

According to a police source, some cyber criminals have stated during the police interrogation that there are some cyber thugs, who provide online courses on how to cheat online through spam and porn videos? They charge a fee in lieu of training them and even fix their shares in the booty. They have the option to even join their groups to make bigger and better networks.

Notorious trainers
An official of the Delhi Police said that the whole network of cyber fraud training is monitored mainly by cyber thugs of Jamtara and Mewat. They not only train the aspiring youths but also remain on the lookout for the youths interested in joining their groups. After reaching out to such youths through social media, they train them for SIM cloning, bank fraud, forgery through artificial intelligence (AI) and cheating through making fake porn videos by recording their face time through video calls.

It has come to light that the Jamtara and Mewat gangs are operating their training center through social media, especially Telegram app. They even charge a fee like any other educational institution. Their fees depend on the course one would like to pursue.

Recruitment on commission basis
On completion of the training, these trainees are offered to join a group on a fixed commission for further assistance. They demand 5 to 10 percent of the defrauded money from these new trainees in lieu of providing them data of common people.

Sim cloning course
According to a police officer, three members of Jamtara gang were arrested for SIM cloning fraud. During interrogation, they revealed that they have taken training for committing bank fraud from the Jamtara gang of Jharkhand. Later, they joined the same gang on a fixed commission. They used to give hoax calls to cheat people on the data provided by their trainers.

Extortion through obscene videos
In another case, six people were arrested by the Delhi Police from Indore in an online cheating case. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they came in contact with the thugs through social media. They were lured by them with hefty amounts as rent for providing their bank accounts. Later, they were trained by those thugs and joined them in their group. They were taught to make obscene videos through apps and video calls and extort money by threatening them to make the video public.

Cybercrime graph over the years
2021: 38,110 complaints,
2020: 37,280complaints,
2019: 23,300 complaints,
2018: 13,200 complaints.

Cyber expert Himanshu Mishra said the spike in cyber crime is the result of rapid spread of the network of these thugs. A bigger network gives them an advantage to remain untraceable to the police.

These thugs quite cleverly use bank accounts, mobile phones, SIM cards and other mediums through these new trainees. Even if the police catch hold of small fries, the big sharks remain out of bounds for the police.