A new form of cyber scam has emerged in Kerala in which original charity videos by social media influencers are being manipulated by scammers by adding fake bank details to extract money from vulnerable people. Law enforcement agencies remain largely unaware of a significant number of these crimes, which are being circulated on social media platforms operated from outside the State, also seriously affecting the credibility of genuine charity videos.
“We are yet to come across this kind of a scam. However, we are on alert against such cases,” said T. Narayanan, District Police Chief (Kozhikode City). Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell- Kozhikode) Balachandran G. said that though there are different forms of trading related online scams, charity scams are new.
