MARGAO: Three incidents of fraudsters posing as police officers and attempting to extort money from parents have come to light in South Goa district. But due to the alertness of parents, the attempts were foiled.
One of the parents from Loutolim told O Heraldo that on Wednesday afternoon, they received a call from a fraudster, who posing as a CID officer, told them that their daughter studying in a higher secondary school at Raia was in their custody as she was found involved in flesh trade.
The fraudster conversed in Hindi but caused extreme panic as he took their daughter’s name. They also used a background audio of a girl crying which sounded similar to their daughter.
He then told them to pay Rs 50,000 through GPay app. When the parents said that they did not have GPay account, the fraudster told them to go to a nearby hotel or a shop and to make the payments from their account.
The parents mustered courage and rushed to their daughter’s higher secondary school in Raia, where they found her in the classroom. The couple then met the principal and narrated the incident to him. The principal told them not to fall prey to such tricks.
The parents then approached the Maina–Curtorim police station, and gave the complete details.
At the same time, another parent rushed to the Maina-Curtorim police and narrated a similar incident. Here the parent told the police that the fraudster told him that his son studying in a college at Fatorda, had been arrested for sexual harassment and that they would release if he made the payment.
Yet in third incident, fraudster made a call to a parent and demanded ransom from him to release his son. The panicked parents rushed to the Verna police station and narrated their incident.
However, police said that no such case had been registered.
However, taking serious note of the incidents, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has advised parents not to panic or pay money to fraudsters, who call and inform them that their child has been kidnapped.
“No such kidnapping cases have been reported in the State. Home department is keeping a vigil. Cybercrime Cell is also investigating the matter. The State is also in touch with the Centre to block the VPNs from where such calls originate,” he said.
Some parents from Chinchinim, have also received calls from Hindi speaking callers in the recent past claiming that their child is in danger and that they should pay the specified amount for the child to be released.
The Cyber Cell has also released a detailed advisory to parents on how to tackle and manage such calls.
