Representative image.

MUMBAI: Animal activists have warned citizens to be wary of a new online fraud which has also fleeced a few gullible animal lovers who tried to help animals in distress by searching for and calling up phone numbers of animal NGOs. Unidentified hackers have somehow changed the contact numbers of genuine animal welfare groups posted on internet sites, so that the calls from citizens are directed towards them in order to execute this scam.

Activist Arvind Shah of the NGO, Karuna group , told TOI: "In the past few days we have got to know that our NGO phone numbers were somehow changed by online hackers on certain popular sites like JustDial. Once any citizens calls these fraud numbers to help any injured animal, the hackers send a link to the caller via SMS and urge them to download it on their smart phones so that a token registration fee of Rs 10 is paid online, in order to help the animals in distress. However, the victims have been looted of much more an amount. We have now intimated the Mumbai police through an application, but an FIR is yet to be lodged."

Activist and private investigator, Salim Charania , who is assisting Karuna in this online case, said, "The cops have informally told us that the hackers are based in far off places like Jharkhand etc. Once, they get a call from concerned animal lovers to help out any animal in distress, they sweet-talk them to download the mobile application (such as AnyDesk app etc) in order to remote access the victims' mobile phone, and thereby steal their money from online accounts. The citizens must be alert and not share their account details and also their PIN codes or any other passwords."

The secretary of Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) at Parel, Lt Colonel J C Khanna, informed: "Last month, I had to also inform the city police about some unidentified persons who had managed changed the official landline numbers of BSPCA published on certain websites, in order to commit online fraud. So, when the victims do Google search or JustDial search, the wrong numbers of BSPCA appear on the screen, which is the first step to this type of fraud. After telling the police officials, we have now managed to get back our genuine phone numbers on the popular sites. But, the people must be alert about this crime."

Cyber expert Alok Verma, who has also helped the cyber police as an ethical hacker, remarked: "While the police in Mumbai is able to trace the location of the online hackers, it is difficult to nab them without the cooperation of the police from other states. I therefore advise citizens to never share their PIN numbers or OTPs (one-time passwords) with any online caller, as this can lead to hacking. Also, any unsecured mobile app should not be downloaded using phone or desktop."

Goregaon based activist, Bhavin Gathani, of Karuna Parivar NGO, told TOI: ``We are continuously telling the public that any animal NGO will not ask for money from animal lovers since their services are free of cost. The animal lovers must not fall for this online fraud.''

Meanwhile, Arvind Shah further informed that they are going to lodge an FIR by next week, possibly in Mumbai western suburbs, based on concrete cases and victim's confidential statements regarding this online fraud. Further online evidence in this regard will also be submitted to the police in order to nab the culprits.

