Panaji: A Margao man just fell for the internet’s most absurd trap. A YouTube ad for a robust buffalo on discount. While sensible souls skip past suspiciously cheap products, Simon Rodrigues (name changed) probably saw the fulfilment of a pastoral dream and promptly wired his life savings for a non-existent bovine.Rodrigues lost Rs 60,000, but gained online wisdom that not everything that you see online is true. Goa police say that the fraud was a masterclass in modern grift. The scammers, operating with the polished efficiency of a startup, didn’t just target his bank account; they harvested his midlife crisis. It turns out, no amount of fiber-optic speed can protect a man from his own spectacular gullibility.Rodrigues is just one of the 15 people per day who have been cheated in Goa in the first half of the year. He won’t be the last. A total of 2,637 Goans have been cheated by cyber fraudsters, as reported at the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), and lost around Rs 41 crore. Goa police have been able to save Rs 9.5 crore after freezing the accounts of the fraudsters.Police said that fraudsters use a variety of tactics, posing as bank officials, stockbrokers, airline staff, online booking agents, and traders to gain victims’ trust before cheating them. Many scams originate through fake advertisements on social media platforms.According to police, victims responding to such advertisements were often redirected to WhatsApp, where fraudsters shared QR codes for payment. After receiving the money, the fraudsters failed to deliver the promised products, leaving victims to realise later that they had been scammed.Police also received complaints from victims who were threatened with the circulation of objectionable photographs of themselves or their family members on social media unless they paid money demanded by the fraudsters.In another case, the complainant stated that she saw a advertisement on social media offering an online loan. She contacted the phone number provided in the advertisement. After a conversation, the fraudsters informed her that a loan of Rs 22 lakh had been approved and asked her to pay various processing charges. She made the payments as instructed, but they continued demanding more money. She then realised that it was a cyber fraud.With the rise in cyber crime cases, state govt has set up the Goa cyber crime coordination centre (G4C) to ensure effective coordination, analysis, and response to cybercrime across the state. G4C monitor the investigation of cybercrime cases and complaints received through online platforms, as well as offline complaints registered at police stations.
