Scamsters now in guise of traffic cops

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Cyber police from the city’s Central Division are on the lookout for miscreants attempting to extort money from the public by pretending to be the officials from Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP).

A case was taken up by the Cyber Economics and Narcotics (CEN) police after a netizen had tweeted the BTP to confirm whether they had sent any messages to him asking to pay the fines for the traffic violation through the UPI application. 

Tagging the BTP, the user had posted, “I am getting a message from number +91-8276863463 to pay old traffic fines through GPAY. Pls confirm if this is your number,” he said and attached the screenshots of the messages with the post. Denying this, the BTP brought this to the notice of the CEN police here.

An initial probe revealed that an imposter was using the account by scamming the BTP profile picture to extor t money from the public. A case under various sections of the IT Act has been taken up against the unidentified accused, and efforts are on track and nab him.

Meanwhile, the BTP has appealed to the residents not to fall prey to such scamsters and approach the police if they were asked by unknown persons to pay the money through UPI apps