Hyderabad: The 73-year-old retired scientist lost Rs 1.34 after attending a fake Supreme Court virtual hearing on trafficking charges, fooled by a cyber fraudster.According to Rachakonda's Cybercrime Police, the scientist had received unsolicited calls from a man pretending to be a Karnataka police officer. He was told that his Aadhaar was found to have been used by human traffickers sending Indians to cyberslavery camps in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Scientists rebutted the allegations, but he was threatened with an arrest, police said.The caller then connected him to a fake CBI officer, who instructed the scientist and his wife to attend the fake Supreme Court, which effectively hears.“They asked him to follow the court rules after being connected via video call. Assuming that was true, they followed the instructions of someone who pretended to be the Supreme Court of India on a WhatsApp call,” the officer said.As part of the verification, scientists were told to transfer the money to the fraudster's bank account. However, he filed a complaint with police on June 6th when the scientist didn't receive the money and his phone number could not be answered.Police have registered cases of terror, crime violations, impersonation, forgery, and fraudulent acts based on the BNS section.
