Telangana police alert public over phone calls from strangers

Hyderabad: Cyber criminals are increasingly resorting to impersonation and extortion.

Telangana police officials alerted the pubic to beware of phone calls from strangers and such tactics. They urged the public to carefully verify the information and directly contact the police, in case of need.

In one such attempt, the Telangana police released a phone conversation between a person who claimed himself to be a police constable, and the father of a youth. During the conversation, the phone showed the image of a cop on the screen, indicating that he is a constable.

The impersonator claimed that the youth was in their custody, along with three of his friends for raping a girl.

The 'constable' kept telling the father of the youth that rape is a grave crime which would cost the youth his career and also involve shelling out a hefty fine to the tune of Rs 12 lakh.

Though the constable said that the youths were in their custody, they could not make the boy speak to the father on his phone when the latter asked for it.

The constable also did not reveal any details about from which police station he was speaking nor the place he was at that moment.

This led to several doubts if he was an impersonator. Further, the 'constable' demanded only Rs 40,000 for the grave crime while saying that the police authorities could impose a fine to

the tune of Rs 12 lakh, which could also lead several doubts on his identity.

Police urged the common public to be cautious about such fake claims.

The police also said that impersonators may trouble people saying that their family members are in trouble or that some drug packages are linked to them, or that they are involved in a case.