In a lighter version of the digital scam, a resident in Mumbai turned the tables on a fraudster by pitting his puppy against the latter. The funny exchange was shared on Instagram wherein the video call with the scammer posing as the officer from the Andheri East police station was ongoing.
The clip begins with the fraudster saying, “I am calling from Andheri East police station,” after which he asks the man to show his face. In response, the alert guy instantly bent down, picked his small puppy, and planted it before the camera and said, “Yeh lijiye, sir. Aagya main camera ke saamne” that roughly translates into “Here you go, sir. I’m here in front of the camera.”.
The catch, however, came as a shock to the fraudster when he realized he had become the victim of his own prank. A smile overspread his face, and he quickly looked away from the camera.
“Arey yeh raha main. Arey, thanedaar. Dikhraha hai? Arey nakli vardi,” the man continued, laughing at the escalating awkwardness of it all. The flustered scammer soon disconnected the call-he could not take in the humor of the moment. The video was captioned: “Pretend to be Mumbai Police. Scam call gone wrong.
This incident underlines the perennial problem of digital scams, most especially the modus operandi where fraudsters use law enforcement impersonation for fear and panic. In general, such scams are called “digital arrest” scams, which usually compel victims to make payments on the pretext of involvement in some crime.
Recently, a Japanese resident living in Bengaluru lost Rs 35.5 lakh in a similar scam when the cyber fraudsters impersonated as Mumbai police and framed him for money laundering and forced him to make a payment. In another incident, a Bengaluru techie was duped of Rs 11.8 crore after fraudsters told him that his Aadhaar details were being misused for ill activities. Meanwhile, with the continuous evolution of digital scams, this is yet another comical encounter for anyone who’s ever been subjected to these devious manipulations.
