Actress Mala Paravathy targeted by online fraudsters, CM Vijayan seeks Centre's support

Thiruvananthapuram: Popular Malayalam industry actress Mala Parvathy was the latest target of a now increasing cybercrime tactic where numerous people have been coned by a criminal gang who call up people, under the guise of being Maharashtra Police, and accuse them of involvement in a crime.

Paravathy told IANS that while she was shooting a film in Tamil Nadu on Sunday morning when she got a call from a person who introduced himself as a Maharashtra Police official and informed her that her Aadhaar card was used to send a packet containing passports, ATM cards, and even a packet containing drug MDMA.

"He said the packet was sent by a courier to Taiwan in my name using my Aadhaar card. The way the person was speaking, you will never ever feel that it was a con call. He was saying that since my Aadhaar card was being used, it's a serious thing and he was saying that a complaint can be raised and he also sent his identity card. Then he said he would connect me to another official. He was also speaking very politely and asked me to come to Mumbai. I said it was not possible and then I gave the mobile to my colleagues. I was really shocked when they sent me a 'CBI notice' too," she said.

“ I spoke to an official of the Kerala Police explaining what had happened. He said the call is being made from a foreign country and it’s not easy to track them down,” added Parvathy, who is now a very busy actress both in Malayalam and Tamil.

As Parvathy’s incident became news, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in reply to a question in the Assembly on numerous similar incidents like what happened to Parvathy where many lost money when they were threatened with dire action if they didn’t pay up, said the Kerala Police is on an extensive campaign through the social media to educate the people not to fall a victim to online frauds.

"To ensure that innocent people don’t become victims of online cyber crimes, the Fin Eco System should be in place and for this, there should be a combined effort on the part of the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India. Moreover, the Cyber Wing of the Kerala Police has been expanded and there are Cyber Police stations working in every district now. A toll-free number 1930 is now functional and www.cybercrime.gov.in website also is there for people to register their complaints immediately," Vijayan said.