Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (MS)
Mangaluru, Jun 13: A case has been filed at the city's cyber police station in connection with ransom threat calls made to the parents of college students in Mangaluru city and Suratkal areas.
Providing details on the matter, city police commissioner Anupam Agarwal said, “On June 11 and 12, strangers pretending to be police officers called the parents of students studying in colleges and threatened them, demanding money to release their children who were allegedly arrested for some fraud. When the anxious parents contacted the schools, they discovered that their children were safe. Upon checking the telephone numbers from which the calls were made, it was found that they belonged to ISD codes from Pakistan and Poland.”
The commissioner also advised that no one should panic over such hoax calls and should report the matter immediately to the police.
Cyber security expert Dr Anant Prabhu G said, “It is possible that the fraudsters gathered the parents' mobile numbers from database websites. Many social media sites are operating illegally in our country. Various organizations also acquire mobile numbers through these fraudulent companies. Additionally, the fraudsters might have obtained data from examination boards. Therefore, it would be prudent to investigate these examination boards as well. Selling personal information is a crime under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. However, the act is not being properly enforced in our country.”
It has come to light that two more parents received similar threat calls on Wednesday. One parent was told that a narcotics case had been filed against their son, and money was demanded for his release. Another parent was informed that her daughter had been kidnapped and a ransom was demanded for her release. In both cases, however, the parents called the colleges and confirmed that their children were safe.