Haryana Police warns retired govt personnel regarding cybercrime threat

Haryana Police on Wednesday issued an advisory requesting citizens, especially recently retired government employees not to share any personal information with any unknown person or caller as it could result in financial defrauding on the pretext of post-retirement benefits.

Cautioning people to be aware of such scammers, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Law and Order, Haryana, Navdeep Singh Virk said, "A new trend of cybercrime has come to the fore in which fraudsters have started targeting the retired government officers/officials with an aim to dupe them on the pretext of post-retirement pension benefits taking advantage of lockdown restrictions. Such scammers believe that the retired government personnel may not be tech-savvy and can be easily cheated."

"In the present situation, increased number of cybercrimes are being reported and we are constantly trying to help the gullible people by advising them to refrain from falling into the trap of cyber fraudsters," he added.

Explaining the modus operandi, the ADGP informed that such cyber fraudsters first gather some basic personal information about the retired personnel and then call the victim in the name of the government treasury department. Subsequently, they try to win the confidence of the victim on call by mentioning personal information correctly like date of birth, date of superannuation and last posting held by the officer.

"As soon as gain confidence, they try to cheat them by seeking personal information like bank account number, password and details of transaction for updating data pertaining to their pension," Virk stated.

Suggesting people to be extremely cautious from such criminals, Virk advised the people never to share their confidential information like bank account number, password, OTP and transaction details with any unknown person or caller.

Giving it to somebody else could result in loss of your money, he said.

( With inputs from ANI )