Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the 'rogue nation' of Pakistan has started opting for cheap ways to gather intelligence from innocent Indians. The Central Government recently barred electronic as well as social media outlets from uploading any video or reporting army movements in the aftermath of the Pahalgam Terror Attack. As a result, not much is being shown on television as well as on social media regarding the Army's crackdown. As a result, it seems like Pakistanis have started to tremble and, in panic, they have opted for cyber fraud and calling Indians to get information about the Indian Army's movement.
A similar kind of incident has come to the fore in which a caller identified himself from India and started asking sensitive information about the Indian Army;s movement from Bathinda Cantt to bordering areas. In the audio recording, a caller who identifies himself as "Accountant Vinay Gupta from APS Bathinda” contacts a local youth named Shubham under the pretense of refunding a Rs 5,000 security fee related to a former school enrollment. Below is an excerpt from the conversation-
Caller: "Hello, good morning, Jai Hind."
Shubham: "Jai Hind."
Caller: "Are you Shubham Kumar Sharma?"
Shubham: "Yes."
Caller: "This is accountant Vinay Gupta from APS Bathinda. How are you?"
Shubham: "I’m good. How about you?"
Caller: "I’m fine. You were one of our students."
Shubham: "Yes."
Caller: "We spoke to your father Radheshyam Sharma yesterday. He must have told you."
Shubham: "Yes, he did."
Caller: "You had submitted a security fee of ₹5,000, which was never revoked. You passed out and left, right?"
Shubham: "Yes."
Caller: "Is the amount linked to the number ending in 8872?"
Shubham: "Yes."
Caller: "Your father said I should speak to you."
Shubham: "Yes, yes."
Caller: "Where do you currently live? Still near Bathinda station?"
Shubham: "No, my father is about to retire, so we’ve moved out."
Caller: "So, you’ve vacated the army quarters?"
Shubham: "Yes, since my father is retiring."
Caller: "We tried to send a letter to your old address, but it came back."
Shubham: "Yes, that’s right."
Caller: "Are the army families still there, or have they moved to the border area?"
Shubham: "I don’t know, I don’t live in the cantonment."
Caller: "One of your classmates, Shagun — her father was in the brigade. Are they still there?"
Shubham: "I knew a Shagun, but I don’t know which brigade her father was in."
Caller: "Military trains have departed from there, haven’t they?"
Shubham: "I don’t know. No trains go from here."
Caller: "They wouldn’t take civil trains, right? They’d take military ones due to the border encounter."
Punjab Police to investigate Bathinda viral call recording case
Bathinda City SP Narinder Singh confirmed that the recording is under review. He issued a statement outlining three key points-
“People use various tactics to commit cyber fraud. In this case, the caller pretended to be a school official talking about a fee refund. It could be an attempt to extract money or obtain sensitive information. Our cyber cell is investigating. We receive several such fraudulent calls via social media. Many are scams. We are working to identify the individual. Once we do, the intent will become clear. It’s premature to claim this was military reconnaissance. Until we trace the caller and confirm whether the motive was to collect army-related information or to defraud, no conclusions should be drawn."