Fraudsters Who Duped Actor Shabana Azmi Identified By Special Group Of Cyber Specialists

Shabana Azmi liquor fraud: Maharashtra Cyber cell has traced the accused fraudsters who allegedly duped actor Shabana Azmi last month.

Police said the fraudsters, who cheated the actor using a phishing website on June 24, were identified and arrests are yet to be made.

An officer said the breakthrough was achieved after the cyber cell hired 26 graduates, including people from the Indian Institutes of Technology universities, as domain specialists to track down the people involved in the case. The experienced group of students, cyber police said, was hired in June to oversee how to strengthen critical power and railways signal infrastructure to guard against cyber terrorism, TOI reported.

Azmi found herself at the receiving end of online fraud on June 24. She took to Twitter and shared her experience about how she was cheated by a Mumbai-based alcohol delivery platform. She even claimed that she was conned by the platform where she placed an order but didn't receive it.

BEWARE I have been cheated by them. #Living Liquidz I paid upfront and when the ordered item didnt turn up they stopped picking up my calls!
I paid Account no.919171984427
IFSC- PYTM0123456
Name living liquidz
Paytm payment bank

— Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) June 24, 2021

Azmi's tweet caught the attention of her followers and many people started sharing similar experiences they have gone through using the same portal.

Acting on the complaint, the IIT and IIM students traced the IP address, began the probe, only to find out that Azmi had allegedly placed an order on the legit original website of the liquor store. She was later contacted by the fraudsters. An officer from Maharashtra Cyber said that they suspected that an insider used to redirect the orders to the phishing fraudsters. "We have traced and identified the accused to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, and will soon send our teams there to nab them," according to officials. They revealed that these newly hired cyber specialists will also work on the old cases. Out of 8,284 reported cases of cybercrime in Mumbai since 2017, only 945 cases have been solved. Read more on the case here.

Meanwhile, 70-year-old Azmi will next be seen with Hollywood veteran Emma Thompson in the upcoming film What’s Love Got To Do With It, directed by Shekhar Kapur.

Oh The lovely #Emma Thompson what a joy it was to work with you. #Whats Love Got To Do With It ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0KRPobhEDH

— Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) July 12, 2021

Feature Image Credit: News East West