Hyderabad: ‘Cybercriminals using WhatsApp to threaten parents,’ says TSRTC MD

Hyderabad: Senior IPS officer and managing director of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) VC Sajjanar issued a warning about a rise in cybercrimes involving fake kidnapping threats aimed at the parents of school and college-going women.

Taking to his ‘X’ account, Sajjanar revealed that cybercriminals are using WhatsApp calls to impersonate police officers falsely claiming that a family’s daughter has been kidnapped.

In a recent incident in Raidurgam, Hyderabad, fraudsters contacted a student’s parents using a foreign number. Posing as police, they claimed their daughter was abducted en route to college and demanded ransom through an online payment. To heighten the threat, the criminals played the sound of a girl crying in the background.

Upon receiving the fake kidnapping threat, the parents informed their relatives, who went to check on their daughter and found her safe at her college. Subsequently, the parents reported the incident to the local police station and lodged a formal complaint.

Sajjanar advised parents to remain alert saying, “Do not respond to WhatsApp calls from unknown foreign numbers. Don’t fall for threats and report such incidents to your local police station immediately.”