After a lull, cyber criminals return to haunt Kochiites

KOCHI: Guess who’s back in Kochi? Cyber criminals. After a brief lull, incidents of fraudsters trying to trick people into sharing sensitive information to dupe them of their money are being reported again in the city.The latest attempt by cyber criminals was reported from Thrikkakara where a teacher got a call from an unknown number. The person on the other end said he was a bank officer and sought the details of the bank account of the teacher’s son. The teacher grew suspicious and disconnected the call, foiling the fraudster’s plan.

Two similar cases were reported in the district last week in which the victims lost their money after they unwittingly shared the ‘One Time Password’ (OTP) that they received with fraudsters. “So far, five such cases have been registered at the Ernakulam Cyber police station which started functioning last month,” said cops. “The perpetrators operate the online fraud mainly from West Bengal and New Delhi,” said an officer with the Cyber police station. A probe to find the fraudsters is under way.