Scammers target government officials
In a likely phishing attempt, over four employees of Kasaragod and Wayanad Collectorates received WhatsApp texts from accounts imitating their district Collectors and asking for urgent money transfers. After that, the numbers have been sent to the cyber police, according to the Collectorate officials.
Vietnam scammers behind the operation
The texts came from Vietnam based numbers but showed the profile pictures of concerned collectors, Inbasekar K in Kasaragod and D R Meghasree.
In one incident, the scammers also shared a Google Pay number, but the target didn’t proceed. According to the official, “the employees who received the messages were saved simply because they recognised the Collector’s tone and style of communication.”
Two employees from Wayanad received texts, all from different numbers from Vietnam. In the Kasaragod incident, Collector Inbasekar said a lot of employees received the phishing texts on WhatsApp. Two employees reported the incident. No employee lost the money.
Scammers used typical scripts
The scam used a similar script in the two districts. The first text read: Hello, how are you? Where are you currently? In the Wayanad incident, the first massage was sent around 4 pm, and in Kasaragod, around 5:30 pm. When the employee replied, a follow up text was sent: Very good. Please do something urgently. This shows that the scam followed the typica
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