PANAJI
You are not the only one hassled by fraud callers trying to steal your financial information or private data. Chief Ministers are not spared by the persistent fraudsters either.Goa CM Pramod Sawant, on Tuesday, revealed how he almost fell for a voice phishing scam during a recent visit to Delhi, when a fraud caller almost got the chief minister to part with his Aadhar card number.
"It can happen to anyone. I was in Delhi and at around 5:30 pm, I got a call, in which the caller sought my Aadhar card number. I said, I do not have it. The caller said, my bank account would be frozen from the next day, if I do not share the number. He directly told me," Sawant said on Tuesday. The chief minister was highlighting the importance of taking on cyber crime head-on, as well as creating awareness about such fraud callers who target unsuspecting victims and try to extract critical information from unsuspecting victims.
He was speaking at a function organised to mark the inauguration of a cyber forensic-cum-training laboratory near Panaji.
Sawant said that while he was surprised by the short, terse threat of bank closure, he reached out for his wallet and almost fished out his Aadhar card, so that he could relay the number over the phone.
"I was also surprised by this. I was wondering why? I flipped open my purse and even pulled out my Aadhar card, then it suddenly occurred to me, why should I share my Aadhar card number, let my account be frozen. No issues. So I did not share my Aadhar card number," the chief minister said.
Sawant also said that while the common folk use financial tools like credit cards and debit cards in the spirit of 'ease of doing business', cons tried to use the same tools for 'ease of fraud'.
"We use debit cards, credit cards for ease of doing business, while those who commit crimes use the same (financial tools) for the ease of doing their business," the Chief Minister said.
Sawant also said that he had been in receipt of complaints from youth with regards to fake call letters and offer letters confirming jobs in state and central governments, albeit for a price.
"People have also started 'making' job offer letters or call letters. I think there are two, three cases in the Goa government also. Someone even came with an offer letter to one department to facilitate his joining. A case has been registered. There was no interview and someone landed up with an offer letter. That is when we realised it was fake," the chief minister said.
"Some youth come to me with complaints, saying they have received offer letters from a central government department and a missive to pay Rs10 lakh for them to join the work-place. Even if people are told that these are fake (letters), people continue to pay money for the same and then regret it," he added.
In July this year, the chief minister's Facebook account was hacked and requests for money were sent through a cloned account. In August, police arrested one Mohammad Shakir, a resident of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh for cloning Facebook accounts of several bureaucrats and politicians, including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
