KBC winner? No it’s a hoax call from Pakistan to clean up your money

HYDERABAD: Any time you get a call from an unknown number telling you that you have won a lucky draw in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), it would be wise to end the call immediately. There have been instances where fraudsters have made calls thorugh WhatsApp and made such claims. These calls mainly come from numbers with a ‘+92’ country code, that of Pakistan.
“There was a case a few months ago, wherein a housewife received a call stating that she had won a lucky draw in KBC.Even though she had not participated in any such contest, she gave away around Rs 14 lakh towards (what was claimed to be) GST and other taxes in different phases. In a similar incident, a man gave away Rs 5 lakh after he was told he won lottery in KBC,” said Rachakonda ACP (cybercrime), S Harinath.

The officer said that he had received a recent complaint, wherein a man noticed the (+92) country code when he received a similar KBC call.
“I received the complaint on WhatsApp. The person said that the country code, he noticed, was of Pakistan, and therefore he did not give away any personal details. He reported the number straight away to us,” the ACP said.
While police keep receiving lottery fraud cases, the cybercrime department, of late has seen a rise in the number of KBC cases. So far, police have recorded 11 such cases from across the city. Cops say that while many who are aware of such scams have stopped receiving such calls, there are cases where victims have lost money believing the caller.
Similar was the situation for Hafeez (name changed), a resident of Mangalhat. The 25-year-old had received a call from a +92 number . “They informed me that my number was selected in a lucky draw conducted by KBC and that I had won a cash prize worth Rs 25 lakh. To claim the amount, they asked me to forward an amount of Rs 30,000 towards processing fee,” he said. After making the payment, he was again asked to make further payments, towards other taxes and service charges. Hafeez transferred a total of Rs 4.95 lakh and realised that he was cheated after there was no response from the number. He approached cops in February and registered a complaint.
“The fraudster can use any country code, Pakistan, Dubai, Singapore etc. They may call from another country but use an Indian code, using virtual numbers applications. In 90% of KBC lucky draw cases, bank accounts have been traced to Bihar,” said Cyberabad ACP (cybercrime), Srinivas Kumar.