Ahmedabad: In two different incidents, cybercriminals attempted to extort money from two Gujarati families by issuing fake kidnapping threats.

In the first case, the family of a young Gujarati student studying in Toronto, Canada, received a call from an individual posing as a police officer. The impostor informed the family that their son and his two roommates in Toronto were accused of gang-raping a girl. Threatening to publicize the information unless payment was made, the cybercriminals provided several details such as the student’s address in Canada, the name of his college, and his roommates’ identities. Later, the family received a video call asking them to pay up before abruptly disconnecting.

However, the family managed to contact their son, who happened to be at a salon at the time of the incident. The family captured the Display Picture (DP) associated with the number from which the ransom call was received, revealing images of several IPS officers.

In the second incident,  a Gujarati family residing in Mumbai received a call from cybercrooks claiming that their son had been abducted. The criminals allegedly demanded ransom from the businessman. However, the family sought assistance from a police acquaintance, who promptly contacted the boy. Thankfully, the boy responded, bringing relief to the family. DeshGujarat