Awareness central to beating online fraud

Do you remember DK Panda, the 1971 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, who, one fine day (while in service), declared himself to be Radha, the divine consort of Lord Krishna?

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He would arrive in office dressed as a woman; he began signing official paperwork as "Doosri Radha" (Radha, the second). When his kin, close associates, and subordinates began making fun of him, he sought voluntary retirement from the police service. Panda now lives in Prayagraj.

He was all but forgotten until a few weeks ago but was back in the news after he lodged a complaint alleging criminal intimidation and cheating with the Dhoomanganj police.

Panda claimed some people had been trying to extort 8 lakh from him by threatening to frame him in a terror-funding case.

He told the police that he had built a ₹381crore fortune through online trading. When he tried to redeem that sum into his bank account, a person who Panda identified as Arav Sharma from Cyprus-called him and asked him to deposit ₹8 lakh towards tax, conversion, liquidity, transaction fee, and other charges incurred on account of the trading.