Thane crime: Air hostess loses Rs 10 lakh to cyber fraudsters who threatened arrest for 'money laundering'

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An official on Saturday said that a 24-year-old air hostess from the Thane district of Maharashtra fell prey to cyber fraud wherein she was forced to transfer around Rs 10 lakh to avoid "arrest" for "laundering money", reported news agency PTI.

The air hostess, who lives in Kalyan, received calls from unidentified phone numbers on November 23, 2024, who told her that a parcel sent by her had not reached its destination in Iran.

When the victim informed the caller that she had not dispatched any parcel, the caller told her on a video call that her name had figured in a money laundering case and threatened arrest, a police official said while sharing an update on the Thane crime, reported PTI.

The caller then sent certain links on her mobile number and forced her to transfer Rs 9.93 lakh before hanging up, the police official said while sharing an update on the Thane crime, reported PTI.

The woman realised that she had been cheated and approached the police.

The police official said the phone number location showed "overseas". An FIR has been registered under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.

No arrest has been made so far.

Cyber fraud called 'pig butchering scam' targeting unemployed youths, housewives, students: MHA report

A new cyber fraud known as the "pig butchering scam" or "investment scam" has emerged, targeting unemployed youths, housewives, students, and needy people who are made to lose large sums of money daily, according to the latest annual report of the Union home ministry, reported PTI.

The report said that cybercriminals have also been using Google services platforms to initiate these crimes.

"Google Advertisement platform provides a convenient facility for targeted advertisement from across the border. This scam, known as 'Pig Butchering Scam' or 'Investment Scam' is a global phenomenon and involves large-scale money laundering and even cyber slavery," it said, reported PTI.

The pig butchering scam, which is believed to have started in China in 2016, targets gullible individuals with whom cyber criminals build trust over time, ultimately convincing them to invest in cryptocurrency or some other lucrative scheme when their money is stolen. The analogy to pig butchering comes from the fattening of swine before their slaughter, reported PTI.

To curb the menace, the home ministry's Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has partnered with Google to share the threat intelligence for urgent action periodically.

The cybercriminals are using sponsored Facebook to launch illegal lending applications in India, the report said.

"Such links are proactively identified and shared with Facebook, along with Facebook pages for necessary action," it said.

WhatsApp remains the biggest social media platform that is possibly misused by cyber criminals in India, the report said.

The data published in the report on "cybercrime complaints where Big Tech platforms have been misused" shows that 14746 complaints were related to WhatsApp, 7651 against Telegram, 7152 against Instagram, 7051 against Facebook, and 1135 against YouTube till March 2024.

(With inputs from PTI)