CYBERCRIME: WHEN THE 'CBI' AND 'ED' CALL YOU...

Social engineering scamsters have weaponized fear of the CBI, ED, police and Trai to defraud victims

- Sumant Banerji

S.P. Oswal's ordeal began on the afternoon of 27 August, with an innocuous phone call. It was a prerecorded message from someone claiming to be from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Just out of hospital after battling an illness, the unsuspecting 82-year-old Oswal, chairperson of the Ludhiana-based Vardhman Group, pressed 9 when prompted. That keypress was a standard screening procedure by scamsters to ascertain the gullibility of their victims—Oswal, a Padma Bhushan awardee, instantly became a target.

What followed was nothing short of a nightmare. Within an hour, the octogenarian received calls from people posing as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers from Mumbai. They alleged that his Canara bank account had been used to launder money. Oswal did not have an account with Canara Bank, but the scamsters had details of his Aadhaar card, which they used to put him on the defensive. Under the pretext of helping him clear his name, they put him under 'digital custody' using a Skype account.

“I had never used Skype until then, so they helped me create an account and told me not to leave the house and to be always online so they could monitor my activities,” Oswal told Mint. “They kept sending me various documents (related to the alleged case) on WhatsApp with the CBI insignia, which seemed very authentic. They also forbade me to discuss the matter with anybody else, including my family members, or it would lead to a prison term of three years.” At the same time, he said, they never threatened him and tried to put him at ease. “Otherwise, I would have consulted my lawyer immediately.”

Once the scamsters realized who Oswal was, they upped the stakes and even held a fake virtual court hearing the next day, with one of them impersonating D.Y. Chandrachud, then the Chief Justice of India.