Since July alone, 3 thousand 75 complaints of cyber crime, 438.5 million 64 thousand 545 rupees were claimed as fraud.
While running the social networking site Facebook, the eyes of a woman from Lalitpur landed on an advertisement of a post about winning money by playing games. The information about earning money at home caught her attention and she clicked. He was then asked to join the social network Telegram.
She was lured by the information that after joining Telegram, various 'tasks' would come and money would be won for completing them. After entering the name and number in the link, it was reported that his name was registered in the account of Jumia Company, which is said to be registered in Germany.
Then she was tempted to earn thousands of money by giving her one thousand rupees on clicking. Accordingly, she sent one thousand rupees to NIC Bank's QR on June 25.
The woman was shown various items including electronics, household items, beauty products, mobile phones and asked to choose. She got the 'task' four times.
Then came the information that he won 2 thousand 300 rupees. Next day money was sent asking for his account number. "After that, I thought I would really win," said the woman, who is preparing for public service after passing her master's degree.
As before, the 'task' started by showing the stuff. But this time the 'task' was not completed as before. At the beginning, we were made to choose how many 'tasks' we would play. It was said that if you choose a 'task' of 10 or more, even if you do not win, the invested money will be returned. If you don't have money, you can get a loan.
Then she sent 2000, 5000, 10000 and then again 1000, 2000 until 10000. But the 'task' kept increasing. Of the 120,000 rupees set aside to pay the mortgage, 71,000 rupees have been spent. He was asked to send the amount to the account numbers of different people in different banks.
After realizing that she was cheated, the woman filed a complaint with the Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police. When she met at the bureau on Monday to understand about the same complaint, she was complaining, 'If you tell this to anyone, what will people who are so educated say what they have done?' "If I had told you to invest 71,000 in the beginning, where would I have sent it?" she said.
A man serving in the police force also approached the Cyber Bureau last month with a complaint of being cheated by a similar online game. "He came with a complaint that he was cheated of 14 lakh 10 thousand," said an official of the bureau, "he lost money because of the message received on WhatsApp."
He received a message on WhatsApp a month ago. It said, "If you turn on the video advertisement of this link and like it, you will get 200 rupees". "They were also offered to earn thousands by playing online games," he said.
He told that he started the game with two thousand rupees in the beginning. 3 thousand 100 rupees came for winning the game. They were asked to earn income by completing other 'tasks' again tomorrow. He formed a group of friends like him. Then the 'task' increased from five thousand to six lakh. And it was said, 'You have to make a VIP account, then we can give you money.' Other friends were encouraging him saying that he had won. He also kept adding money. "Now that I think about it, I think that he was a friend of the thug," he said while showing the messages exchanged in the group.
A woman living in Kathmandu also filed a complaint with the Cyber Bureau saying that she was cheated by the lure of gifts a few days ago. He was informed that he had received a gift from abroad. She began to understand who sent the news of the gift to whom.
'I wanted to give you a surprise, did you know?' The person who sent it convinced her. Even though the person giving the gift was a stranger, she was trusted. "When the person who brought the gift said that it will be taxed, I also sent 80,000 rupees. Again, the person asked for more money saying that the gift contained expensive items.
'I sent two lakhs again,' she said, 'They asked for money again saying that the goods have arrived at the customs of India. Later, I came to the customs to release the goods, I was also robbed, the person who sent the goods told me that you should save me," she said, "I believed. The unknown person took my amount of more than 1 crore.'
Many complaints have been filed in Cyber Bureau, Votahiti about hacking social media accounts, sending gifts, giving jobs or loans online, cheating by pretending to speak from bank and wallet offices, and blackmailing under the guise of nude photos and videos. According to the
bureau, more than 270 million has been defrauded by claiming that money will be won in online games when the complaints received only since July. In the financial year 2080/081, 4 thousand 145 complaints of cyber crime were received in the Bureau. Bureau spokesperson Superintendent of Police Deepak Raj Awasthi informed that 3 thousand 75 complaints have been registered till November of this financial year.
According to him, a complaint of fraud of 438.5 million 64 thousand 545 rupees has been filed in five months. During the same period last year, 1,489 complaints were filed. "Crime is increasing due to lack of attention to the use of social networks," Awasthi, the spokesperson of the bureau said, "Greed and making quick money is the main motive behind the increase in cyber crime."
According to the Cyber Bureau, in the financial year 2080/081, there were 14 complaints related to cyber crime, while in the current financial year, 16 complaints have been filed. Last financial year, 1 thousand 373 applications related to online market and shopping were registered.
Cyber fraud complaints are also registered in district police offices. According to the bureau, educated people are more likely to be cheated through social media. Because, the messages they receive on social media are in English. Awasthi, spokesperson of the bureau, says that people who have bank knowledge and accounts can be said to be educated because they are cheated.
According to him, doctors, teachers, children of high-ranking officials, and the police are the ones who approach the police with complaints of such problems. The method of cheating has also been found to be strange. They advertise that they offer jobs. Applicants are Nepalese. Their citizenship and bank QR are with the main fraudster,” said spokesperson Awasthi, “then the fraudsters deposit money into the same account. Although this action is not proven, it can be assumed that it is done from abroad.
In Nepal, even though Facebook and Tiktok apps send data, the main culprit could not be brought to justice because Telegram did not provide data, he said.
