&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Ministerial berths for money: Kerala Police probe cyber fraud impersonating Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary")
A new cyber scam is being probed in Kerala, in which Congress politicians from the south Indian state were contacted with offers of ministerial berths in exchange for payments of up to ₹3 crore (30 million rupees). The Kerala Cyber Police are investigating this online impersonation scam, according to reports in Mathrubhumi, SouthFirst and other media outlets.
Cyber scam for Cabinet berths: What really happened in Kerala?
Earlier this month, Vidya Balakrishnan, the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Elathur constituency, received a WhatsApp call from a person posing as DS Rajkumar, the private secretary to Congress leader and Member of Parliament Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Reports said the caller claimed that a Kerala Cabinet reshuffle was going to happen soon and offered Balakrishnan a ministerial position in exchange for money. The caller, who spoke in English, said that an MP from Kozhikode district had shared her contact details. Balakrishnan played along briefly before verifying the claim with Priyanka Gandhi. The reports said, Priyanka Gandhi sent a voice note of the real DS Rajkumar for comparison, which did not match the voice of the caller. Balakrishnan then filed a formal complaint with the Kozhikode City Police Commissioner.
Same fraudsters targeted other politicians
Police said that calls from the same number, 9540575524, were also made to Vadakara MP Shafi Parambil and Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose with similar offers. Kuriakose ended the call after becoming suspicious. On July 15, the Cyber Police in Wayanad registered a First Information Report (FIR) based on a complaint by Rajkumar, Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary, alleging that someone had impersonated him in an attempt to cheat elected representatives.
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Police action and investigation
Both Wayanad and Kozhikode police are probing the case. A special police team travelled to New Delhi after tracing the SIM card's registered address and location there. The case has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections relating to cheating and personation, as well as Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000, on cheating by personation using computer resources.
Mule SIM and spoofing: Police suspect an organised fraud
The call may have been made using a mule SIM, a mobile number registered in another person's name but controlled by fraudsters. Mule SIMs are commonly used to conceal the identity of the real perpetrator. Police said the SIM card was procured in Delhi. Police are trying to determine whether the case is part of a larger organised fraud network.
In the past, similar impersonation scams have been reported in so-called "digital arrest" frauds, in which criminals pose as law enforcement or government officials and use spoofed calls to appear as though they originate from genuine government agencies or official phone numbers. Spoofing technique falsifies the caller ID or other identifying information to make the call appear to come from a trusted source.
Money-for-posts allegations are not new in India
The scam attempt should be viewed in the context of past allegations involving money in exchange for key posts in Indian politics. However, at the time of writing, there is no evidence of any involvement by any political party or government in the Kerala impersonation case. The cyber impersonation appears to be an attempt to exploit political ambitions and trusted contacts through WhatsApp-based fraud, rather than evidence of any genuine political appointment process.
