A school in Gujarat's Kheda district has become the epicenter of a massive cyber fraud operation, exposing the alarming vulnerability of educational institutions to digital crimes. Scammers, having compromised the contact details of nearly 100 individuals associated with the school, executed a coordinated attack, swindling lakhs of rupees from staff and students' parents through elaborate ruses.
The Anatomy of a Deceptive Attack
The fraud, which came to light on December 16, employed multiple tactics to trick victims. In one distressing instance, a woman from Nadiad received a call from a person posing as a school staff member. The caller cleverly exploited parental anxiety, claiming an OTP (One-Time Password) was needed to file her child's report card. After she shared the code, Rs 16,000 was siphoned off from her bank account.
In another case, a parent was targeted via a WhatsApp call from a woman pretending to be a friend of his neighbour. The scammer narrated a fabricated medical emergency, prompting the parent to urgently transfer Rs 15,000. It was later discovered that this very neighbour had fallen victim to the OTP fraud, indicating the scammers' use of compromised contacts to build false trust.
A Widespread Pattern Emerges
Alarmed by their losses, the initial victims approached the school, only to find a gathering of other parents with similar harrowing tales. A collective picture emerged of a widespread attack where parents and staff received calls either demanding OTPs for 'school-related work' or pleading for money citing emergencies involving acquaintances.
"When we reached the school, we found that many other parents had also been scammed," one affected parent told the media. "I learned that either accounts of all parents had been hacked or they had received calls from the fraudsters."
Police Probe and Official Response
A senior officer from the Kheda district cybercrime police confirmed the large scale of the fraud, noting that the exact number of victims and total financial loss are still being assessed. "This is one of the massive frauds in recent times as all schoolteachers and parents' numbers were compromised and they ended up losing money," the officer stated, adding that the modus operandi of seeking money varied.
This cyber onslaught occurred just a day before 31 schools in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar received bomb threats, highlighting a tense period for educational institutions in the region. Following a complaint filed by a parent on December 16 at the Nadiad (West) police station, authorities have invoked sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for cheating along with the Information Technology Act.
The police investigation is now focused on uncovering how the extensive database of parents' and staff contact details was accessed. Authorities have reiterated a crucial public advisory: never share OTPs or transfer money based on unsolicited calls, even if the caller claims to be from a school or a known contact.
